Do I Look Like A Junk Yard Cat To You?
by NeverLand91
Summary: This is my personal spin on how Victoria came to the Jellicle Junk Yard. She had a little help from Mistoffelees (although I call him Quaxo except in a few places). Poor girl's been through a lot, and it's not over yet. Multiple chapters completed, and many more on the way! Rated T for some non-graphic violence.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: So I don't own CATS. Just really love it. Also, in anything that takes place outside of the junk yard, they are just general cats. Within the junkyard they are the jellicle forms we all love so much, but that is explained in a separate chapter. I have eight chapters completed and it gets longer every day, so plenty more coming! Enjoy!

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**Chapter One**

**_Victoria POV_**

Victoria lay basking in the sunlight that came through the window. She rested on a pillow that she had long since brought over to give herself a comfy place to rest in the light. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, and she lay there completely relaxed. On days like today it was difficult to imagine that bad days ever happen. But of course, she knew very well that they did.

"HEY! Vicky!"

Victoria sighed, speaking of bad days, "Hello George."

George was the large orange tom cat that her humans had adopted months ago. He was always nice to her, as long as the humans were home. When they were gone for the day, and even sometimes during the night when they were all asleep, he might as well be the devil. Lucky for her, right now they were home.

"My Vicky, how are you this afternoon?"

She sighed and turned to the window, trying to ignore him. But of course, she knew that would come back to bite her later, quite literally. "I'm fine George. How are you?"

"Oh, I'm fantastic." Something about the way he said it made her turn to look at him, he had on a smirk that made her blood chill. "I just over heard the humans are going on vacation next week. For two whole weeks! We'll both have the house to ourselves. Won't that be grand?"

She felt her mouth drop open, and if she wasn't already white as a sheet, she would have paled. "W-What? No, they can't! They wouldn't leave us for that long. They've never left for that long!"

He smirked and sat down, giving his tail a nice flick. "Oh, they are. I promise. They are going to have someone come over once a day to make sure we have food and water and clean out our boxes."

She stared at him in horror. Two whole weeks stuck in the house with him. Alone. She was going to die. There was no way she would survive the time.

"What's the matter my dear, Vicky? You aren't afraid of being alone with Ol' Georgie are you?" His tone made her shiver.

She shook her head. "Of course not...but...I think I'm going to go hunt some mice."

She stood up and tried to slip past him, but he stepped in front of her. "That's fine, Girlie. You go hunt your mice. In a few weeks, you'll be hunting for two."

She tilted her head to the side. She wasn't really sure what that meant...but it didn't sound good. She stepped around and past him hurried out of the small cat door the humans had installed, she was lucky. Because they had gotten it before they had gotten George, and since he was much bigger than she was, he couldn't fit. Whenever she could get outside, she could get a least a little bit of freedom. She had a feeling she would be spending quite a bit of time outside for the next couple weeks.

She walked down the walk to where there was a stone column. She wasn't really sure why it was here, or how long it had been here. But it made a nice spot to sit and watch as people and cars went by. She had spent countless hours, over the past twelve months she'd lived here, which was eight months shy of her entire life, just watching.

She was sitting there, trying to not to think about the horrors that awaited her next week, when something new caught her attention. There was a black cat on the other side of the road. He seemed to be...PRANCING, and humming. No, as he got closer, she could tell he was singing. Singing? Why would a cat be singing? Sure. Victoria had often spent her evening dancing around in the moonlight, had often been laughed at and made fun of by George, but she'd never sang, or heard another cat sing. But then, the only cat she'd ever mingled with was George. She had a few memories of her mother, but they were painful, so she often tried to ignore them when they came up. Those were from long ago. These humans had adopted her when she was several months old, and she had lived with them alone until they had adopted this rough alley cat that had somehow ended up in the shelter for adoptions.

The black cat was still walking down the street, still singing, still prancing. She could almost make out the words now, though she caught it mid sentence. - "tiniest crack and he can walk on the narrowest rail." As he sang that line he had jumped up onto the fence that lined the yard across the street, and he had placed each foot step deliberately as he sang the words. He jumped off the fence and began the next line of song as he landed, "He can pick any card from the pack, and he is equally cunning with dice."

He happened to look over at her now, and she blushed and glanced away, but as she glanced back she noticed that he was headed her way now, crossing the street, while still singing and prancing along, "He is always deceiving you into believing that he's only hunting for mice." As he sang those last words he came to a stop below her claimed tower, and sat down. "Well, hello."

Victoria said nothing at first, just stared down at this black, no. Now that he was closer, she could see he wasn't solid black. His body was, yes, but he had some white on him as well. The tip of his tail was white, as was majority of his chest and face. He also had one white front paw, and both of his two back paws were white. He was the first tom cat, other than George, she'd ever seen.

She sat up straight, and looked down at him. "Hello."

He didn't say anything for a minute after that, just sat there watching her. She wondered what he was waiting for. Was she supposed to do something? She didn't know what he expected but she wished he'd stop staring at her, it was making her nervous. George always did that before he pounced on her, or whatever cruel trick he had planned. This cat staring at her did nothing to ease her mind.

"Well..." after what seemed like a long time, "I...have to go inside. My humans are probably wondering where I am."

She jumped down from her perch and glanced back at the mysterious tom. She didn't trust him enough to turn her back on him until she was safely on her own porch. She started to go through the cat door when he yelled, "Wait!"

She paused, humoring him. He stood now, still at the end of the walk. "What's your name?"

She sighed, "Does it matter?"

He shook his head in confusion, "Of course it matters."

She was about to answer then George's voice bellowed from the other side of the door. "Vicky! Are you talking to a strange tom out there!?"

The black cat's eyes narrowed. Victoria's eyes did the opposite. "I'm sorry, I have to go."

And without looking back she disappeared through the cat door.

**_Quaxo's POV_**

He couldn't get his mind off of the pearl white cat he had met that day. He had thought about her the entire walk back to the junk yard. Had thought about her all through dinner. He knew the others had noticed. He had caught Munkustrap watching him with a quizzical look, but Quaxo had been cautious to avoid him. He had retired early to his den that evening, and now lay in his comfortable little box with his blankets and pillows.

He flipped over onto his back, and lay there, staring that the roof of his humble abode. And for about the hundredth time, he found himself thinking about her. He felt like a complete idiot. He had noticed her watching him from across the street, and had walked over there, with every intention of talking to her, of making conversation. One did not come across such a pure white beast very regularly. Not that she was a beast, she was far from it.

He thought about how timid she had been, how unwilling to talk she had been, and wondered if it was due to the mysterious male voice that had called to her from inside the house. He wondered if he had ever hurt the girl, and for some reason, the thought of anyone laying one paw on her in a malicious way made him sick. He hissed at nothing and turned to his side, swatting at a pillow.

He'd have to go visit her again. He had to make sure she was alright. The male voice had called her Vicky. He said the name out loud to himself, "Vicky."

It was probably short for Victoria. The name suited her perfectly, well, much better than Vicky anyway.

That brought him to his next query. Why had she been so loath to tell him her name on her own? Had she been afraid of him? Surely she knew he could be trusted, but wait!

He sat up with a start. What if the only interaction she had had with other cats was with HIM. If he was always like that, then that would explain why she was so...cautious with Quaxo. He couldn't blame her. Well. He would just have to prove to her otherwise. Maybe he could even convince her to come to the junkyard. It was with that thought that he nodded to himself as he lay down once more. Yes, he would go visit her again tomorrow. And if she wasn't out then he would go visit her again the day after, and the day after, as long as it took to see her again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** So this is the second chapter! Hope everyone thinks it's alright. Again, I don't own CATS. Feel free to review! I'd like to know what people think.

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**Chapter Two**

_**Victoria's POV**_

She woke suddenly, to a large paw hitting her face. "Ouch! George! What was that for!?"

She rubbed her nose gently. At least he hadn't had his claws extended. That had happened plenty of times. She glanced out the window, it was late morning. Somehow, she had managed to sleep through the humans waking up and leaving for the day. Great.

"Who was that cat you were talking to yesterday?"

She sighed, here we go. "What cat?"

He growled at her, "Don't play dumb with me. I saw the two of you from the front window! What did he say to you?"

She shook her head, "Nothing! He didn't say anything! He said 'Hello' and asked my name, that was it."

George glared at her for a long while. "Well what was his name?"

She shrugged, "He didn't say."

George's eyes narrowed further, they were barely slits now, "Really now."

She rose now and took a few steps back. She was well aware of that face. "Really! I don't know his name! He made me nervous so I came back inside."

At that the ginger cat grinned. But it was a grin that made Victoria more nervous than the mystery cat ever had. The ginger cat purred, but even that sound was horrifying to Victoria. George NEVER purred. "Good girl, my Vicky."

Her fur bristled. "You do know I'm not YOUR Vicky, right?"

The grin left his face, and was replaced with a ferocious snarl. "You are mine! You stay here, with ME. You may have been here first, but when your humans took me in, this house - and everything in it - became MINE. Including you. You'll eventually learn to like it."

Victoria narrowed her eyes at the beast, and that was what he was, a beast. "I will never be yours."

There was another snarl, and he moved, faster than she thought he was capable of. His front arm swung out and hit her in the shoulder. She cried out as she felt his claws pierce her skin. The force of his attack had been enough to knock her to the ground, and he now loomed over her. "You WILL be mine. I'll see to that. Just wait, soon we'll have two whole weeks together. You'll learn."

With that she stood and bolted out the kitchen. He yelled after her, but he was bigger and a bit fatter than she was, so she was certainly the quicker of the two. He made it to the cat door and out to safety before he could catch up.

Once outside she stopped on the porch. Her shoulder ached terribly. Suddenly an orange paw darted through the cat door, but she was out of his reach and easily ran back toward the road. However, this time she didn't jump up onto her favorite perch. This time she lay down on the grass, right behind it and out of view from the road.

She glanced down at her shoulder. There were two new gashes, and they were bleeding. Not heavily, but plenty enough to stain her beautiful white coat. And they hurt. This was the first time he'd ever made her bleed. He'd swat at her before, but never like this. Never this hard. She didn't want to go back inside. Not ever. But she had no other options.

_**Quaxo's POV**_

The tuxedo tom cat walked merrily down the sidewalk. He was almost there. Just around the next corner and her house would come into view. He ran past the last few houses on the street, turned the corner, and stopped cold. He could feel her, he could sense her. Even from here. (He is a magical cat after all.) And something was wrong.

He slowly crept towards the house, keeping to the far side of the street. If that monster had hurt her...Quaxo shook his head. Now was not the time for that. He reached the spot where he had crossed the road just yesterday. He sat there watching the house for a few seconds, wondering where she might be, when he heard it. Gentle crying, that no human ever would have picked up, but his feline ears had no problem picking up the low sobs. His eyes searched the yard, and found the hint of a white tail sticking out from behind the stone tower she had been perched upon yesterday.

He took a deep breath, fearing the worst, and started across the road. What would he find when he came around that column? The Everlasting Cat only knew. He paused right against the wall of stone. She hadn't noticed his approach. He knew that if he spoke now, it would spook her. But what choice did he have? He took a cautious step forward so that she was in view, and he felt his heart clench.

She was curled into a ball, facing away from him. She was still crying. He sighed quietly. When he spoke, he tried to use the calmest tone he knew. The same tone Munkustrap and Jennyanydots used when calming the frightened kittens. "Vicky?"

The white form jumped up with a gasp and turned to face him with a hiss, her back arched. He didn't move through all of this, he had been expecting it after all, and when she saw it was him she seemed to relax. Well, at least physically. She glared at him, "Don't call me that!"

The black and white cat nodded. "Alright, I'm sorry. What should I call you?"

He kept his frustration to himself. This feline was obviously distraught, and apparently in grave pain, and concerned with what he called her?

"Victoria." She almost spat the word out. Well...wasn't someone in a bad mood. Not that he blamed her.

"Well, Victoria, are you alright?" She laughed. But not a happy laugh. It was a sad and miserable laugh. The kind of laugh someone gave when they had cried all they could, so they didn't know what else to do.

"Am I alright? No. No Mr. Black Cat, I am not alright."

Quaxo tried to contain the laugh. Mr. Black Cat, he'd have to remember that. Maybe it could replace Mr. Mistoffelees as his stage name. No. He liked Mistoffelees. But he would definitely be remembering that name for a while, he just knew it. "Quaxo."

She stared at him for a moment, obviously perplexed. "What?"

He smiled. "My name is Quaxo."

She watched him for a moment, and nodded. "Well, QUAXO, what are you doing here? You're going to get me into more trouble."

His eyes widened, "You mean this is my fault?"

She nodded, but not in an angry sort of way. A sort of way that made his heart break, because she - apparently - didn't see any hope for whatever this situation was. "Vicky-toria." He quickly corrected himself, "What happened?"

The white cat looked down at the ground, almost as if she was ashamed. And made the tiniest movement. If he hadn't been paying attention he would have missed it. She turned away from him, only a little, but it was almost as if she was hiding something. "Victoria?"

Still, she said nothing, and his heart began to beat wildly. What was this feline hiding from him? There was obviously something she didn't want him to see, and that bothered him to no end. "Victoria...please. Let me help you."

She looked up at him for a moment, her blue eyes watching him cautiously, before finally sighing, and turning back towards him, allowing him a view of her other side. The side, until now, she had cleverly kept hidden from him.

He saw the gashes on her shoulder, and it was all he could do not to let out a hiss. As it was, a sound rumbled deep in his throat, and it was definitely not a purr. Her magnificent white coat was now an ugly shade of red, and it had spread almost down her front leg. He glared up at the house and then looked back at her, "Did he do that to you?"

She hesitated, and then nodded silently. He bristled and puffed up his chest as he turned towards the house. He was going to show that cat a thing or two about -

He had taken all of two steps before she was in front of him. The fast motion had obviously caused her shoulder pain, because she was not favoring that leg. "No! Please, you don't understand."

He narrowed his eyes. "I don't understand? Well, by all means, explain it to me."

She sighed and glanced fearfully back at the house, no doubt checking to see if he was watching. "He'll hurt me again. Please, just leave it be. I'll be fine..."

Oh, he surely doubted that. But he kept his comments to himself. No sense in upsetting the poor girl right now. "Fine. But, at least let me help clean your wounds? They are probably in a difficult spot for you to reach...at least comfortably."

_**Victoria's POV**_

By the time Quaxo had finished with her, almost all of the blood was gone. There was a slight tint of pink, but it was certainly better than it had been. She was amazed. "Wow, you must be a magician or something. If I keep to myself tonight, my humans won't even notice."

He smirked, "Something like that. Tell me, why don't you want them to notice? They could make it stop. They could get rid of him. You'd be safe."

She shook her head, "I have already tried that. Within the first month he was here, I feigned a hurt leg, and acted terrified of him whenever we were all together. They took notice, and even took me to that dreadful cat doctor the humans use, but nothing more than that was ever done about it."

She watched him carefully now, he seemed to be thinking. "You could leave."

She tilted her head, "Me? Leave? Where would I go? My humans would miss me."

He continued on, obviously adamant. "You could come to Junkyard. You could stay with us. And your humans would move on after a while. Get a new cat...one that will teach George a thing or two."

Victoria stared at him, was he really serious? "You want me to come live in a JUNK yard? Do I really look like a junk yard kind of cat?"

He laughed, "Do I?"

She fell silent momentarily. She didn't really know how to reply to that. Because no, he certainly did not look like a junk yard cat. "Well...who is 'we'? I couldn't live with strangers. I've never been around other cats."

He smirked, "They wouldn't be strangers for long. Sure, we all have our differences, but I guarantee that this -" he gently nuzzled her shoulder, "would never happen to you again. We all look out for each other. We protect each other."

She didn't know what to say. After a moment she sighed, "Sure sounds better than being cooped up alone with him for two weeks."

The black and white cat started, "What? What did you say?"

She nodded, "My humans are going away for a few weeks. I'll be alone...with him...for two weeks."

She said the last three words very slowly, and lay down as she said them. She didn't know how she was going to survive it. Especially after this. If he did this when her humans would be home this evening, what would he do if they wouldn't be back for days? The torture would never end.

Quaxo seemed to be thinking along the same line. He had a very serious look about him, and finally spoke up, "Then you'll come stay with us for those two weeks. The humans won't know you're gone, and you'll be safe."

Victoria scoffed. "I'll have to come back sometime."

Quaxo sighed, "If you wish. But we'll make sure he doesn't hurt you anymore."

Victoria looked up in confusion, "How?"

All he said was, "I have my ways."

She looked down and remained quiet for a moment, but finally said, "I'm scared, Quaxo."

She expected him to comfort her, to tell her it was ok, that he'd take care of her. But he didn't. She looked up to see what his face said, he had a very expressive face...but he was gone. She jumped up and ran to the end of the walk, but there was no sign of him. She sat down with a sigh; it was as if he had vanished into thin air.

"Vicky!" George's voice called from the door and she sighed once more before heading inside. He wouldn't hurt her anymore today; the humans would be home soon.

She stepped through the cat door and was immediately bombarded with his face only inches from hers. "What did he say to you this time?"

She shrugged, then instantly regretted the motion, the tom cat chuckled, "kind of sore eh?"

She narrowed her eyes at him and started to walk past. He blocked her way, "You know, Vicky, I really am sorry about earlier."

Yes. So sorry. So sorry that his eyes still gleamed with delight. She simply nodded, "I'm sure you are."

"You know I'd never purposefully hurt you."

She nodded, but stepped past him. She was going to find a nook to hide in until tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** As always, I don't own cats. This chapter is a little shorter, and is mostly filler to set up for the next couple. Hope you enjoy! Please review if you have any ideas/comments/suggestions. I'd love to see some feedback on my work.

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Chapter Three

_**Quaxo's POV**_

He made it back to the junk yard in record time. He transformed into his Jellicle Form, as all cats did upon entering their Jellicle Yard, and went in search of Munkustrap. He needed to let the tribe leader in on this, because he would probably need his help, or at least his thoughts and ideas on the matter. He was absolutely determined that he would get her out of there. She didn't deserve that life.

He found Munkustrap sitting on the great tire. That was kind of his post after all. Quaxo quickly moved to sit beside the stripped cat, and he didn't waste any time with pleasantries. "I need to talk to you."

Munkustrap nodded, "Is this about whatever had you so distracted last night?"

Quaxo sighed, and nodded. "I met a cat yesterday. I think she's in trouble."

Munkustrap smirked, "She?"

Quaxo groaned, "Please Munk, keep on topic? I'd expect that of Tugger, but not you."

The grey tom cat nodded, but was still obviously laughing on the inside, "What seems to be the problem?"

Quaxo looked down. "I went to see her again today, and found her crying in a corner of the yard. She -"

"Are you sure you should be telling me this? Girls don't like it when you spread around they've been crying."

Quaxo glared at him and groaned in frustration. "Fine! She was wearing a grass skirt and dancing the hula! Happy?"

Munkustrap watched him carefully for a moment, simply observing. Quaxo hated when he did that. Finally the Protector said, "This is really important to you."

The tuxedo cat nodded in exasperation. "Yes!"

There was a slight sigh from the cat next to him, "Very well. Please, forgive me for my laughter; I did not realize the seriousness of the matter at hand."

Quaxo nodded, "Please, I just need you to help me help her."

Munkustrap nodded, "Of course. What's going on?"

Quaxo spent the next thirty minutes discussing the issue with him, and by the end of it, Munkustrap was just as put off as he had been. He nodded, "Yes, something certainly must be done. We cannot force the girl to come here, and we cannot make her stay if she does come, but we can make that tom's life miserable if continues on this way."

Quaxo smiled as relief flooded through him, "So, you'll help?"

Munkustrap nodded as he stood. "Of course I'll help. I'll talk to Tugger, and Alonzo. I know they will help as well, and I'll explain what is going on to Deuteronomy."

_**Victoria's POV**_

That night and the following morning passed very slowly for our white feline. Her humans noticed that she wasn't being very social, and tried to coax her out of her hiding place, but she quite stubbornly stayed put. After a few minutes they gave up and went to sit on the couch to watch the tele, while George sat happily on their laps, enjoying the attention. Victoria hated him.

As the morning dawned she slipped out through the cat door earlier than usual, before the humans had even left for...wherever they went during the days. She didn't want to deal with George.

Again, she forfeited her favorite perch for a shady spot under the bushes beside the porch. She had slept horribly the night before, as her shoulder pained her greatly, and she knew she could use a short cat nap.

She woke a while later to a gentle nuzzling, "Victoria?"

Her instincts were to jump up and defend herself, and while she did jump awake, she recognized the voice enough not to completely freak out the way she had yesterday. "Quaxo...you scared me."

The black cat lowered his head apologetically. "I am sorry, that was not my intent."

She nodded, "I know," her gaze rose to the new cat that stood behind him. Her fur bristled, "Who is that?"

She watched as her friend looked back to the other cat, which nodded encouragement, and then back to her, "This is my friend, Munkustrap. He will not hurt you."

Victoria relaxed, albeit only slightly. Surely Quaxo would not bring someone that would wish to harm her. She nodded in greeting. "Hello. I am Victoria."

The great cat gave a low bow, "Pleasure to meet you, my dear."

The white cat couldn't help but smile at his gracefulness, and nodded.

Quaxo sat down in front of her, and looked down to check on her wounds. "They look much better than yesterday."

She sighed and nodded, "Yes. Thanks to you. If you hadn't helped me with them they probably would have gotten infected."

"How was the evening?"

She laid her head on the ground, wishing it hadn't happened at all. "Long. Painful. Lonely. The list goes on I suppose."

Quaxo nodded sadly, and Munkustrap stepped forward, "Why don't you come with us? Just for the day."

Victoria shook her head fearfully, "Oh, I couldn't. He'd notice I was gone. He'd get me later for it."

Something flashed across both the tom's faces, something like anger, but it was gone before Victoria could be sure, hidden beneath their well formed masks. Munkustrap sighed, "Do you trust me?"

Victoria narrowed her eyes. "No."

Munkustrap shrugged, "Fair enough. I was going to be surprised if you said yes. Do you trust Quaxo?"

She looked at the black and white cat, who had come to be her friend over the past few days. He had helped her when she hadn't asked for it. He wanted to keep her safe...right? She started to say she wasn't sure, but then she saw the look in his eyes. His dark brown eyes. It almost looked as if he needed her to say yes, that he would break if she said no...She didn't want him to break. "Yes, I trust Quaxo...my Mr. Black Cat."

The grin that came across his face made her smile. She knew, in that moment, that it was true. She did trust Quaxo.

Munkustrap couldn't bite back the laugh; "Mr. Black-" Quaxo kicked him with his back leg and Munkustrap mumbled, "Never mind, not important."

Victoria caught the exchange, and couldn't help but laugh. She liked this Munkustrap, and her Quaxo. Munkustrap cleared his throat, "If you trust Quaxo, then trust me when I say, that he will not allow the beast that resides within your home to bring you anymore pain."

She smiled, "Alright then, I'll-"

She paused, and sighed, "No. I can't, I'm sorry but I can't."

Quaxo's face fell, "But, Victoria, we-"

She shook her head, glaring at him, "What are you going to do? Camp out in the bushes? You can't stay here twenty-four hours a day."

He sighed, "Very well, but we will come back every day to check on you. And I still think you should at least come to the junk yard with us when the humans leave."

Victoria nodded, "I'll think about that."

It was certainly better than being stuck here with George for two weeks. Anything would be better than that.

Both tom cats nodded, but Munkustrap spoke next. "Good, you think about it. We will be back tomorrow. It was nice to meet you."

He backed away, leaving the two alone for a moment. Quaxo watched him walk away and sighed, "Please Victoria, if he hurts you again, if he even tries to hurt you again, please come find us. We will help you."

Victoria closed her eyes and nodded slowly. She felt him lean close and nuzzle her gently, and heard him whisper, "I'll take care of you." But when she looked up he was already joining Munkustrap on the sidewalk, and the two cats had started home.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** I do not own cats! Just love it bunches. Sorry it took so long getting this one posted. I've had it finished forever but have just been really busy with real life. I'm up to chapter...eleven I think? So lots more to come. Let me know if you have any idea's...as I've kind of written myself into a corner. But who knows, maybe I'll get out of it alright!

**Chapter ****Four**

**_Quaxo's POV_**

The two tom cats walked in silence back towards the junk yard. Both of them were seemingly deep in thought. Finally Munkustrap sighed, "Well, I see why you are worried."

Quaxo nodded. "If anything happens to her…"

Munkustrap nodded, "If I know you, you won't let anything happen to her. So I wouldn't worry too much."

The tuxedo cat sighed, "I wish she'd just come with us. She isn't safe there."

"She will. I have no doubt of that."

Quaxo walked on in silence. He wished he was confident in that as his friend obviously was. He needed to convince her to leave. That tom cat had already hurt her once, what would he do when they were alone for two weeks?

The thought made him angry. The fur on his back bristled, and he felt energy pulse through him, causing his paws to spark with electricity. Munkustrap noticed this of course, and put his paws Quaxo's shoulder, "No, Quaxo! Not here. You must wait."

The tuxedo nodded in agreement, but glared as he continued walking.

When they finally reached the junk yard, Quaxo excused himself and went to the small field behind the junk yard where he practiced his arts. He had some stress to release.

The stress of the situation was getting to him, and he could feel the energy bubbling in him and if he didn't release it in the right way he was going to hurt someone. Maybe even Victoria and he couldn't allow that to happen.

With a snap of his fingers, several targets appeared at various distances. He took a deep breath, and his dance began. He jumped, twisted, and twirled, with all of the grace of the Jellicle Cat that he was. Almost with every step he took, an arm shot out and a bolt of electric energy would blast a target. It was several minutes later when he did one final leap and a bolt of lightning took out the final target.

He landed in a crouch, pausing to catch his breath.

"Well, you're certainly getting better." Quaxo looked up, and saw Rum Tum Tugger standing there. Quaxo was surprised he hadn't noticed his approach.

"Thanks Tugger." He stood as he spoke, and approached him, offering his hand to shake.

"So," The large tom said, "I hear you've been having some issues."

Our tuxedo cat shrugged, "So Munkustrap told you about it?" The other cat nodded and Quaxo asked, "What do you think?"

Tugger gave a dramatic sigh, "You should get her out of there! Just teleport her here! Problem solved. She'll be safe and everyone's happy."

Quaxo almost laughed. "I'm not going to force her to make up her mind."

Tugger nodded solemnly. "I didn't expect you to. You're much too kind for that. Not that that is a bad thing, somebody has to be. But just be careful. If you don't make up her mind for her, someone else will."

Quaxo narrowed his eyes at his friend. He didn't like what he was insinuating. "And exactly what do you mean by that?"

Tugger raised his hands up, "All I'm saying is that if you don't help her decide to come, that other tom will force her to. And if you aren't careful, it may be too late."

Quaxo stood silent at that, and Rum Tum Tugger gave a sad nod before walking back into the junk yard.

The magical cat looked up at the sky. The sun had finally gone down, and now the stars lit up the sky. The moon was full tonight, and the light it cast was great enough to produce full shadows.

He sighed, wishing he COULD just make Victoria's mind up for her. He didn't like the idea's his friend had left roaming around in his head. They made him nervous. But unfortunately, he knew they were absolutely possible, not Tugger just trying to mess with him. No, his friend had been serious tonight. For once.

A wind came, and he saw some thunder clouds rolling in and lightning flashed in the distance. There would be a storm tonight. He headed back through the junk yard, and through his drain pipe that led to the small den that was his home. He hoped Victoria would be alright until tomorrow.

**_Victoria's POV_**

Victoria once again woke to the angry ginger cat. "What? What is it now?"

George growled at her. "What is it now? I could ask you the same question."

Victoria yawned, wishing she could go back to sleep. "What are you talking about?"

His eyes narrowed, "Who is Quaxo?"

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"Answer me!"

She shook her head. "How do you know that name?"

He snarled, "You've been talking in your sleep! You've been oo-ing and ah-ing, and nuzzling your pillow. It makes me sick! You keep saying Quaxo."

Our white queen began to tremble. "I can't control my dreams."

"Don't patronize me. You want to leave, is that it? You want to run off with this Quaxo." He spit the name out, and she could tell he was getting angrier by the minute. He had been thinking about this a lot apparently.

Victoria didn't deny it, and this seemed to make the tom cat even angrier. "Well you can't leave. You are mine."

Victoria looked up at him then, "I have told you already," She said as she stood, "I will never be yours. Ever. You can just forget about it."

He reached to grab her once more, but this time she'd been ready. She ducked out of reach and went to run past him. As she did he caught her tail in his mouth, biting down and pulling her back to him. She screamed as he threw her down on the ground. "You're mine. Do you hear me? This Quaxo will never have you. You'll never see him again. I'll make sure never see the light of day again."

Suddenly the light came on in the hall way. Her howl of pain had waked the humans, and they were coming to see what had happened. Victoria was flooded with relief, now they would finally see what George was. Maybe now they would get rid of him, she looked over at him with a smirk, and her face fell. He had scratched himself! His shoulder was bleeding, much the way hers had been the other day, and he lay on his side, almost as if he was in pain. She glared at him and stood, flicking her tail in anger.

That was what the humans saw as they came into the room. She heard a gasp, "George! Snowflake!"

George gave a pathetic meow, and the male human, the female called him Jacob, walked over to him. "George! What happened? Snowflake, did you do this?"

Victoria pretended not to understand, cats can't talk to humans after all, and they had always insisted on calling her Snowflake. Where they came up with that completely unoriginal name she'd never know. Although, she supposed it was better than George.

Jacob shook his head. "Sarah, we should separate these two for a while. Why don't we shut her up in the guest bedroom?"

The female human, Sarah, sighed and nodded, and picked Victoria up. "I'm sorry sweetie, but until we figure out what's going on, we have to leave you in here."

She had been walking as she spoke, and now set Victoria down on the bed in the guest bedroom. She gave the cat a pet before walking out and closing the door. She returned a few minutes later, with a small bowl of food, some water, and one of the two liter boxes they had in the house. "Sorry Snowflake," Was all that the human said as she closed the door, leaving Victoria alone.

That was when the rain started. The poor girl walked over and jumped onto the window ledge, watching as the rain hit the glass. She sighed. Well, at least she'd made her decision now.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's****Note:** So this is the fifth chapter! Things are gonna pick up a lot in the next chapter, this is pretty much filler and set up for the next. It's kind of short. But on the up side - I'm almost finished with this story! I finished Chapter 12 last night, and I'm probably going to wrap everything up in Chapter 13. So you can expect at least me to post up the chapters fairly regularly. Also, I'm working on a Prequel to this, it's going to have Macavity and George as the main focus...mainly Macavity. But I'm not going to start posting that one until this one is complete. Don't wanna get ahead of my self lol Well that's about all I've got. Please review! I love seeing what you guys think! Also, I don't own CATS!

_**Chapter Five**_

_**Quaxo's POV**_

He left early that morning. Something had happened during the night. He just knew it. He didn't know what, or how bad it had been. But he could feel something was wrong. Sure enough, as he approached the house, it became obvious. The white queen was nowhere to be seen. He sighed, wondering what had happened to her. "Victoria?"

He asked the question as much with his mind as with his voice. Sure, cats have good hearing, but he hoped the mental projection of the words might get her attention more than his voice alone. He sat silent for a moment, listening and waiting.

Suddenly he heard her. She was apparently on the other side of the house somewhere, he could hear her meowing. His heart beat quickly as he ran across the yard, jumped up onto the privacy fence and then back down the other side. He stopped, listening again. There! It was closer now, and she sounded distressed. He looked up at the nearest window, and there she was. "Victoria."

He jumped up onto the window's ledge, and put his paw on the glass, she did the same. "Victoria, what happened? Can you come outside?"

She shook her head. "No. He got jealous of us spending time together, so he tricked the humans into thinking that I attacked him so that they would lock me in here." She sighed, "I'm stuck here."

All he could do was blink. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. How could anyone believe that Victoria, sweet, innocent, little Victoria, could possibly attack anything? He shook his head. "Don't worry, I'll get you out of here."

Victoria looked puzzled. "How?"

Quaxo just smirked. "Trust me, I have my ways. But I have to go talk to Munkustrap. But I'll be back, tonight. Will you be ok until then?"

She nodded. "I think so. I expect they will leave me in here all day."

He nodded, "Well at least you'll be safe there. If you can't get out then he can't get in either. I'll be back later."

She nodded, and he jumped down from the ledge. He looked up at her once more before turning away and making a mad dash for the Junk Yard.

He didn't stop the entire way, and by the time he reached the yard he was breathing hard. Munkustrap, who of course had been on patrol, was the first to meet him. "Quaxo? Are you alright? Is it Victoria? What's happened?"

He spoke between breaths, and sat down on the large tire. "The humans…locked her in a room… They think…that she attacked…HIM."

Munkustrap stared at him for a moment. "Well, let's go get her out. Surely she'll want to come now, he has even turned her humans against her."

Quaxo nodded. "I told her we would come back tonight. As long as they keep her locked up, she should be safe. I want to make sure we have a plan before we go in there. It could easily get very ugly."

Munkustrap nodded. "Do you think just the two of us can handle it?"

He nodded again, "The smaller the group the better. Easier to get in and out, and honestly I expect you and I are the only ones small enough to get through the cat door."

Munkustrap smirked. "Then let's get to work. How are we going to get her out of the room?"

Quaxo simply lifted an eyebrow as if to say "Really?" and Munk laughed, "Of course. Who am I talking to? Next question, how do we get her past Big and Ugly?"

The tuxedo cat sighed, "That's going to be the tricky, and possibly dangerous, part. I don't know the layout of the house, I don't know much about this cat except that he's too big for the cat door, but that doesn't necessarily mean much, it's a pretty small door."

"Are you even sure that I'll be able to fit through the door?"

"Honestly? No, I'm not. But that doesn't mean I don't want you there."

Munk laughed, "Oh, I'll be there regardless. If nothing else I'll go tell Victoria that you're coming."

Quaxo nodded, "Thank you for helping me with this Munkustrap."

His friend nodded, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "As if I'd let you go without me."

Our tom smiled in appreciation, "Now, I need to go prepare. Let's plan to leave after sunset."

Munkustrap nodded, "I'll be ready."

_**Victoria's POV**_

The rest of the day passed slowly. She was bored, and lonely. She had been looking forward to getting to lie out in the sun and talk with Quaxo, but George had obviously put a stop to that. She was lying on the bed when he came to the door. "Oh, Vicky."

She sighed and turned over, her back to the door.

"Are you lonely in there? I bet you are. I bet you're missing your Quaxo. Oh, and I know he's coming for you. I may have been listening to your earlier conversation. I have quite good hearing you know? Anyway, like I was saying, I know he is coming. And I will not let him take you. Of course, how he expects to get through a shut door? I have no clue."

She heard him saunter off and she wanted to cry. He was right. There was no hope. Even if Quaxo could make it past George, how would he get the door opened? She might as well just plan on living the rest of her life in this room, this small, empty, cold, little room. She would never be able to truly see Quaxo again. What if George killed him? That psychotic monster, she wouldn't put it past him.

She curled up into a ball and sighed, "If only I'd gone with Quaxo when I had the chance."

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***So this is a preview of the next chapter. This one is going to be action packed! And we see Mistoffelees! Quaxo's alter-ego so to speak. Chapter Seven is super long, but I think you'll enjoy it! I'll post it up in the next couple days. If you want it sooner - reviews! :-D

**Chapter Six Preview:**

He crept quietly through the house. He was naturally a very quiet walker, but as Mistoffelees, it was almost impossible to hear his approach, unless he wanted you to.

"You must be Quaxo."

Mistoffelees sighed; apparently he wasn't impossible to see. He turned to see a large orange cat standing directly behind him. "Actually no, I am Mistoffelees. But don't worry, people often get us confused."

The cat shrugged. "Whatever, I don't really care what your name is."

Mistoffelees smirked, "Well, you really should. It makes quite a difference."

The orange cat glared at him, and now Mistoffelees could see why Victoria was so afraid of him. He was very large, one of the largest cat's he had seen. And he was big, as in, big boned and muscular. He had obviously been a tough alley cat in his day, and Mistoffelees knew he was going to have to think this through carefully. Although he would he would no doubt be the quicker of the two, he could not win a physical fight against this cat, but lucky for him, he wasn't limited to physical prowess.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's****Note:** So this is my favorite chapter of the entire story, and I'm pretty much done with it. We meet Misto in this chapter - and he's much more snarky than Quaxo. Snarky? Is that a word? Well hopefully you'll understand. PLEASE review this one - I absolutely love Misto and I want to know if I've done him justice. I tried really hard to give him some personality, some flair. Any way - this chapter has some violence in it, but only a little and it's not super graphic or anything. Also, as always - I don't own CATS. Hope you enjoy this!

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**Chapter Six**

**_Quaxo's POV (As Mistoffelees)_**

Quaxo had decided early in the afternoon that this evenings escapades would no doubt call for some magic and, for whatever reason, he had better control when he changed to Mistoffelees. There wasn't much difference really, almost all of his white vanished, with the exception of his face and chest. Oh, and of course the brilliant shine of his fur. It almost glittered.

He met Munkustrap just after sunset as promised, and the grey tom nodded in approval at the choice. "That was probably a wise decision."

The two cats arrived at the house almost an hour after sunset. The lights and sounds coming from the house suggested that the humans were still awake, so they would have to wait. And wait they did. They sat outside the house, watching and waiting and talking quietly, for another hour before the lights finally went out. Then another several minutes, in case the humans were not asleep yet.

When they finally approached the cat door, all was quiet. Mistoffelees stepped back, giving Munkustrap the chance to try the door. But one look showed that he wouldn't fit, at least not comfortably, so they decided that he would wait here. Mistoffelees started through the cat door, but Munkustrap touched his shoulder, making him pause, "Be careful Misto. You don't know what you're walking into. Watch your back."

Mistoffelees nodded, and crawled through the door. He crept quietly through the house. He was naturally a very quiet walker, but as Mistoffelees, it was almost impossible to hear his approach, unless he wanted you to.

"You must be Quaxo."

Mistoffelees sighed; apparently he wasn't impossible to see. He turned to see a large orange cat standing directly behind him. "Actually no, I am Mistoffelees. But don't worry too much about it, people often get us confused."

The cat shrugged. "Whatever, I don't really care what your name is."

Mistoffelees smirked, "Well, you really should. It makes quite a difference."

The orange cat glared at him, and now Mistoffelees could see why Victoria was so afraid of him. He was very large, one of the largest cat's he had seen. And he was big, as in, big boned and muscular. He had obviously been a tough alley cat in his day, and Mistoffelees knew he was going to have to think this through carefully. Although he would he would no doubt be the quicker of the two, he could not win a physical fight against this cat, but lucky for him, he wasn't limited to physical prowess.

Our magical tom cat smirked, unlike Victoria, he wasn't afraid of George. "Well, this little chat has been lovely, but would you be so kind as to show me to Victoria's room? I'm sure I can find it myself, but we might as well save time."

The cat snarled at this, and glanced at a door down the hall before saying, "You aren't taking Vicky."

Mistoffelees smiled. Part One – Locate Victoria, was complete. "Oh, yes I am. I think you've had enough fun with her. Now, if you'll excuse me – "

He had started walking away, but was interrupted by a large paw swinging towards him. He was faster though, and jumped out of the way. "Oh, you really shouldn't have done that."

The orange cat charged him, and again Mistoffelees easily jumped onto a nearby chair and clear out of the way. "I'm telling you, you should really back off."

George laughed, "You expect me to be afraid of you? You're just a tiny little thing. You don't have a chance."

Mistoffelees tilted his head and smirked. "Would you care to bet on that?"

The other cat hesitated for the first time, but regained his composure. "You won't get her past me. You can't leave the house without getting past me. And I'll only let her go over my dead body."

Mistoffelees smiled, he may have been hoping the orange tabby would say that. "Well, that can certainly be arranged. Now, if you'll excuse me."

With that he jumped over the orange cat, and ran for the door that he now knew Victoria was behind. He reached up for the door knob, tapped it twice with his paw, and it opened. He entered quickly and closed it behind him. He smirked as he heard George growling just outside. "Quaxo?"

Mistoffelees turned to see Victoria watching him from on top of the bed. He smiled and walked towards her, "Basically, yes. It's a long story."

He jumped up onto the bed and started towards her, but she backed away from him. "But you aren't Quaxo. My Quaxo has three white paws…and white on his tail…you don't."

Mistoffelees smirked, and he would be lying if he said that hearing her call him "her Quaxo" didn't make his heart flutter. "You're right, I don't right now. And I promise I'll explain everything later…right now…consider me your Mr. Black Cat."

He watched as the familiar name brought recognition to her eyes. She crossed the distance instantly and rubbed her head against his neck. He tried to hide the smile that it caused. "Victoria, I promise that I will explain everything later. But right now, I need you to trust me. Do you trust me?"

She hesitated only a moment, and then nodded. The hesitation killed him, but it was better than nothing, and he smirked, "Good. Then let's go."

Together they jumped off the bed and moved to the door, where George was still growling on the other side. He looked at Victoria, praying she would follow his instructions. "I am going to keep him busy while you get out. Munkustrap is outside waiting for you."

She shook her head adamantly, "No, I can't leave you!"

He smirked, "I made it in here didn't I? I'll be fine. Please, just do as I ask. I'll be right behind you."

She narrowed her eyes, and obviously wanted to argue it further, but finally she nodded, "Fine."

He smiled, "Thank you. Are you ready?"

Victoria hesitated, and nodded. Mistoffelees reached up and tapped the door knob twice again. Then everything happened very quickly. George shoved the door open, and it knocked Mistoffelees over, sending him crashing against a dresser. Victoria, completely caught by surprise that this cat had somehow opened the door, was easily knocked down by George's attack. The orange cat then grabbed the scruff of her neck and pulled her back through the door, and down the hall. Mistoffelees lay where he was for only a moment, before jumping up and running after.

"You're mine!" George said through gritted teeth as he dragged her along the floor. "Mine!"

They reached the kitchen and he released her. She immediately tried to jump up and run for the door, as Mistoffelees had told her, but George was ready. He swiped her with his paw, hard, and right under the chin. The force caused her to flip backward as she had already been on the move, and Mistoffelees watched in horror as she fell on the floor. "Victoria!"

She didn't move, the only sign that she was even conscious was that now she groaned, and was starting to lift herself up and looked at Mistoffelees. George glared at her, and lifted his paw to strike her again. Mistoffelees saw red, he lost control, and he shot a large burst of electric energy at the orange cat who had dared lay a claw on his Victoria. But as soon as he sent it he saw his mistake. He hadn't aimed well enough, and it hit the spot on the floor between Victoria and George, and both cats went flying across the floor. George crashed into the table legs, and lay still. Victoria was flung against the wall. "Victoria!"

Mistoffelees ran to the white queen who now lay limp on the floor. "No! No, no, no, no, no! Victoria! Please, come on."

Noises down the hall caught his attention. The noise had roused the humans. He had to get Victoria out of here. He grabbed her as gently as he could and carried her toward the cat door. "Munkustrap!"

He pushed Victoria through the cat door. Grey paws grabbed her on the other side, and she was out. Mistoffelees followed immediately, and went to where Munkustrap was examining her. "The humans are coming! We have to hide."

Together they got her into the bushes, and no sooner had they done that than the door swung open and the humans came out. They ran to the end of the walk, and looked up and down the road. After a moment they gave up and went back inside.

Mistoffelees never took his eyes off of Victoria though. He ran his paw over her, gently stroking her head.

"Mistoffelees?" Now he looked up, as Munkustrap asked, "What happened?"

He shook his head. "I didn't mean to! It was an accident! I got angry and –"

The grey and black cat made him stop. "Hush now, I understand. She'll be alright. Let's just get her to the junk –"

Mistoffelees stopped him, "We can't. She'll wake up in Jellicle form. She won't understand. She'll be confused. She SAW me do it Munkustrap. She is already going to be afraid."

Munk nodded. He saw his friend's logic. He was right. He also knew Mistoffelees wouldn't leave her side. "Do you need me to stay?"

The tuxedo cat shook his head. "No. I expect it will be best if it's just me when she wakes."

"Alright, be careful." He started walking toward the sidewalk, and Mistoffelees only nodded. He had other things on his mind.

He lay there beside Victoria for hours. Every few minutes he would look down at the sleeping white beauty. Guilt shook him. He couldn't believe what he had done. She had trusted him, and he had hurt her. He had promised to get her out, and had nearly killed her himself in the process. She would never forgive him. She would never trust him again. It was a miracle she had ever trusted him in the first place.

At some point in his brooding, he realized that it would probably be easier for her if he was himself again when she woke, so he stepped away long enough to change, and when he returned, she was starting to wake.

**_Victoria's POV_**

The first thing she was aware of was the pain. Her body was racked with it. Everything was sore. The second thing she was aware of was that there was another cat lying against her. It was warm, and at first she snuggled closer to it. She opened her eyes, and saw the white face watching her. "Quaxo."

He looked so sad. Why did he look so sad? What was –

And just like that she remembered. She jumped up and away from him. It hurt to move so much, but right now she didn't care. "You! You…"

Quaxo didn't rush after her. He sat up slowly. "Yes, it was me. Victoria I am so sorry, I didn't mean – I mean, I didn't want – I mean…" He sighed, and was silent for a few seconds, "Victoria, you have to believe me. I would never, ever, EVER, hurt you on purpose. I know I did, but it was an accident, a horrible accident."

"I know."

"And if you can ever forgive me I'll ex – wait, what?"

Victoria almost smiled at the look of pure confusion on his face. If she hadn't been so afraid of him she would have. "I know you didn't mean to hit me…I know it was meant for George…although it was absolutely horrifying…"

"I know it must have been. I can ex –"

Victoria held up a paw to stop him. "Please, not so fast. My head hurts…"

Quaxo nodded with a sigh, and sat silently. After a few minutes, she asked, "How – How did you do that?"

"I have," He paused, thinking carefully, "Powers, and abilities. I've always had them. I can do lots of things."

She sat down, she was too sore to keep standing, and sighed. She didn't know what to think of this. She'd never met a magical cat before. She looked up at him, "You're dangerous."

**_Quaxo's POV_**

Quaxo nodded with a sigh, he wasn't going to lie to her. "I certainly can be."

Victoria watched him for a few moments, and said nothing, He was growing worried, so he stood, moving just a step closer to her. "Victoria, I really feel horrible about what I did. I generally have exceptional aim and control but…But he was going to hit you again."

As he got closer she rose and took a step away from him, and in that moment he knew exactly how afraid of him she was. It broke his heart. How could he ever get her trust back. "I'm so sorry…"

Victoria looked over at him, he looked into those blue eyes, and knew that he had to get that trust again somehow or another. He wasn't sure he could live without it.

"So, you're telling me, that you lost control because he was about to hurt me again."

Quaxo nodded, and she smirked. _Smirked!_ He was confused, but before he could ask she continued. "And that made you mad."

Again, he nodded, "It made me very mad."

She still wore that cute little smirk. It made him nervous. " Why did it made you so mad, Quaxo?"

She asked as if she already knew the answer and just wanted to hear him say it. He hesitated, wanting to choose just the right words, "I'm very…protective, of you. I had watched him toss you around like a rag doll only seconds before that, I couldn't allow that to happen again, I had to stop him…I just, I wasn't careful enough."

Victoria was watching him closely now, and oh how he wished he could read her thoughts, but that was one magical ability that had skipped him. He looked down at the ground now, his head lowered with shame.

After a few moments, motion caused his eyes to look up at her. She was moving towards him, closing the distance. She paused right in front of him, and his heart pounded as he waited breathlessly to see what she would do, what she would say. She was so close to him. He closed his eyes, the suspense was killing him. He wanted to gather her in his arms and hold her close and never let her go, but he couldn't do that. Not after everything he'd done, not until he knew what she was feeling, not here, not –

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt her head rub ever so gently against his shoulder, and then his neck. His eyes flew open, he lifted his head up, and he looked at her. She was smiling. She was _smiling._ "Oh Quaxo. It's alright. As I said, I know you didn't mean to hurt me."

He felt the beginnings of relief reach him, but he hesitated, there was still one question he had to ask, "Victoria, do you still trust me?"

Without hesitation she nodded, "With my life."

The relief he felt at those words nearly caused him to collapse where he sat. He couldn't believe it. He had been positive he would never be able to win that trust again. Turned out he had never really lost it. He rushed towards her, closing the distance, and was relieved when she didn't flinch from him. He nuzzled her neck, and her face. "Victoria, will you please come with me now?"

She pulled away from him and smiled, "I thought you would never ask."

He gave her one final nuzzle, and together they headed home.

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**Chapter Seven Preview:**

Quaxo came to a stop in front of a drain pipe. He looked at Victoria. "Are you ready?"

She nodded and started to walk forward but he stopped her. "Wait, I need to explain something to you."

She tilted her head in question, but said nothing, waiting for him to continue. He took a deep breath, and sighed. "As you go through this pipe, you're going to change. I don't know how to explain it. You won't even notice it's happening until you reach the end and suddenly…you'll be different, and so will I. Just, trust me ok?"

Victoria hesitated, but after a few seconds nodded. "I can do that."

Quaxo smiled, and started through the drain pipe. "Let's go then."

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**Author's**** Note:** Alright everyone! I really hope you liked Chapter Six, as I said - It's my favorite of all of them. I just love Mistoffelees. I would really appreciate any reviews you guys want to send my way. I've gotten a few so far and they make me really happy :-D Hope everyone is well! Next chapter coming soon.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:**This chapter is admittedly kind of long and drawn out, but it has a couple of cute interactions between various characters, and some fluffy stuff towards the end. (Least I feel like it's fluffy. Could be wrong I suppose). Hope you guys enjoy it!

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**Chapter Seven:**

_**Victoria's POV**_

"How much farther is the junkyard?" Victoria asked as they rounded a corner.

Quaxo laughed, "We are nearly there."

Victoria nodded, but didn't say anything in response. She felt Quaxo's eyes on her. "Nervous?"

She nodded. "A little."

"Why?"

She hesitated before answering. "I just don't know what to expect. Except for you and Munkustrap, George is the only cat I've ever been around. And now I'm walking into an entire pack of them."

Suddenly Quaxo had stepped in front of her and she looked up, "Yes, there are a lot of cats there, but I promise that none of them will hurt you."

Victoria nodded but looked down. "What if they don't like me?"

Quaxo chuckled and she looked up as he spoke. "I wouldn't worry about that."

With that he turned and started walking again, and Victoria watched him curiously before following after him. What did he mean by that? Why shouldn't she be worried about it?

It wasn't long at all after that when Quaxo came to a stop in front of a drain pipe. He looked at Victoria. "Are you ready?"

She nodded and started to walk forward but he stopped her. "Wait, I need to explain something to you."

She tilted her head in question, but said nothing, waiting for him to continue. He took a deep breath, and sighed. "As you go through this pipe, you're going to change. I don't know how to explain it. You won't even notice it's happening until you reach the end and suddenly…you'll be different, and so will I. Just…trust me ok?"

Victoria hesitated, but after a few seconds nodded. "I can do that."

Quaxo smiled, and started through the drain pipe. "Let's go then."

She watched him walk through, and after a few seconds followed suit. As she entered the pipe, she saw that the exit was already clear. He was out already. She paused just inside the pipe, and looked down at her paws.

Only they weren't her paws anymore. They were hands now, with fingers, like a human's. Her eyes moved up the length of her arm, and down her body. When she looked up again Quaxo stood in front of her. He stood on two legs and smiled down at her. She watched him carefully, confused. He looked the same, but at the same time he didn't. It was so strange.

He smiled, and offered her his hand, "Victoria."

She smiled and took his hand, and he pulled her up until she stood with him on two feet. She looked him over, and then herself, and smiled at him. "Wow."

She looked around, there was a large open area, and she could see several cats doing various things. Some stood together talking, others seemed to be dancing. Several had turned to look at her.

He smiled, "What do you think?"

She smiled, "It's so strange, and wonderful."

"Welcome to the Jellicle Junkyard!" A grey and black tabby approached and bowed.

Victoria smiled, "Munkustrap."

The cat smiled, "Glad to see you survived the night."

She glanced at Quaxo, and watched as the guilt crossed his face again, she placed a hand on his arm. "It all came out alright in the end."

Quaxo smiled in appreciation, and then looked past her. She followed his gaze to see a rather large cat coming towards her. This one was black, similar to Quaxo, but instead of white had a spotted type of pattern on his arms and chest, and a fluff of mane around his neck. Victoria guessed he was a long haired cat when outside of the junkyard. This was the first new cat she was to meet, and she found herself instinctively stepping closer to Quaxo, who laughed, "Victoria, this is Rum Tum Tugger. Don't worry, he is all bark."

Tugger smirked, "You say that now, Misto."

Victoria glanced at Quaxo, "Misto?"

Quaxo sighed, "It's…complicated."

Victoria shrugged and allowed the conversation to move on. She knew he would explain later.

Rum Tum Tugger bowed low, but more dramatically than Munkustrap had, and chuckled as he spoke. "Glad you came. Misto here was about to lose his mind."

Quaxo rolled his eyes as Victoria lifted an eyebrow at him, "Thanks Tug. Thanks a lot."

Tugger smirked, "Anytime." He looked at Victoria, "Enjoy your stay."

And with that he sauntered off. Victoria smirked at Quaxo. "Losing your mind were you?"

Quaxo glanced at her and started to answer, but instead turned his attention to Munkustrap, changing the subject. "Did you tell Old Deuteronomy she was coming?"

The cat smirked. "Of course, I'll go tell him she's here. He'll need to meet her before she can officially be allowed to stay."

He turned and walked away, leaving Quaxo and Victoria alone momentarily. Victoria started to speak, about to ask again about Misto, or the fact that he'd been losing his mind. Both questions were buzzing around in her head but Quaxo put up a paw. "Later, I promise. I need to explain to you Old Deuteronomy"

She sighed and nodded. Well that was convenient.

"In many ways, Munkustrap is our leader. He is our protector and we all do as he asks, more because we respect him than because he as actual authority. Deuteronomy is the real head of the tribe. Munkustrap acts in his place sometimes, and if Deuteronomy is away, then Munkustrap is it, but Deuteronomy will determine whether or not you can stay."

Victoria was nervous now, "Do you think he will allow me?"

Quaxo smiled, and gently touched her face with his hand. "Yes. I do. I have no doubt."

Victoria rubbed her cheek against his hand, and smiled.

"Quaxo!"

The two cats looked up to see Munkustrap approaching once more, with a very elderly and very large looking cat coming just behind him. "Victoria, allow me to introduce Old Deuteronomy."

Deuteronomy bowed to her as well, not as low as Munkustrap or Rum Tum Tugger had, he was old and not as flexible anymore, but he was still courteous. "Welcome, Victoria. I have heard a lot about you."

Victoria glanced at Quaxo, who shrugged. He was about to say something when Deuteronomy spoke again, "No, not from Quaxo. I received the highest recommendation from your friend Munkustrap."

Victoria looked at Munkustrap and smiled, "I explained to him the gravity of your situation."

Deuteronomy nodded, "Indeed. Victoria, I hereby welcome you into the tribe of The Jellicle Cats, and if you wish to join, you certainly may."

Victoria smiled, and Quaxo took her hand. "Well? Would you like to stay?"

She smiled, and nodded, "I would very much like to stay."

Quaxo beamed, and Munkustrap smiled. Deuteronomy stepped forward, a smile on his face as well. "Then welcome. I'm sure Quaxo and Munkustrap will give you the tour, as well as finding you a suitable place to stay." He shot a comical glare at Quaxo, "I'm sure you'll explain all of our laws as well."

Quaxo nodded. "Of course."

With a nod Deuteronomy smiled. "Very well, but now I must take my leave. I am an old cat any my legs are tottery. Enjoy your stay Victoria, I will be seeing you around."

With that he turned and left, escorted by Munkustrap who assured him he would be back once he had Deuteronomy settled.

Victoria looked up at Quaxo. "The laws?"

_**Quaxo's POV**_

Quaxo sighed and shook his head. The past few minutes had no doubt left Victoria with plenty of questions. But the latest one he laughed at, "That was his way of reminding me to find you a place to stay that was separate from mine."

Her eyes widened at that, and he couldn't tell what she was thinking. "What is it?"

She looked down, "I just hadn't put much thought at all to where I would be staying."

He smiled, "Don't worry. We will find you somewhere suitable. There are certainly plenty of places around."

Victoria nodded. "Where do you sleep?"

Quaxo grinned, "Come. I'll show you."

He took her hand and led her through the junk yard. Many cats paused what they were doing to watch as they passed, and Quaxo worried how Victoria was doing with all the attention so he watched her reactions. She would generally just smile at them, before moving a step closer to him. She felt safe with him, even after he had hurt her. She really did trust him. He swelled with pride.

Finally he came to a new drain pipe, and paused. "This is mine."

She looked at him curiously, "The pipe?"

He laughed, "No, through the pipe."

He entered and waited for her to follow. Then together they went through the pipe. Inside, there was a spacious area that was clear of junk, although it mostly made up the walls and roof. There was a box off to one side that was certainly large enough for him to sleep in. It was filled with blankets and pillows. Along the other side there were old books and several random trinkets.

He watched her carefully, wanting to see her reaction, and was pleased when she smiled, "It's lovely."

"Well, now we will find you somewhere."

She nodded, and together they exited his den, and went through the drain pipe. Victoria was just climbing out when a red queen jumped down from where she'd been sitting above. Victoria jumped, clearly started, and moved behind Quaxo.

He sighed, "Hello Bombalurina. This is Victoria. Victoria, this is Bombalurina, or more commonly called, Bomba."

The red cat smiled, but it wasn't a very sweet or polite smile, and Quaxo knew Victoria would be nervous of this one. Bomba grinned. "Well, welcome." She spread her arms out dramatically, "I heard we had a new queen on the yard, and I had to come see for myself. I had to see if she was prettier than me after all."

Quaxo rolled his eyes, and she continued. "Oh, don't glare at me that way Quax. You know how I am, and don't worry Vicky." Quaxo almost felt Victoria flinch at the name, "I don't bite."

With that she strutted off, and Victoria cautiously watched her leave, no small amount of fear on her face. Quaxo sighed, and touched her shoulder. He would have to talk to Bomba about this. This would not do. "Don't worry about her. She's just a bit dramatic. She is Tugger's mate."

Victoria nodded. "I can see that."

Quaxo forced a smile to his face, trying to get her back to her mood before Bombalurina had come and ruined everything. "Now, where were we?"

Victoria smiled, his ploy had worked. "I need a den."

He nodded, "Quite right! Let me think."

He knew this junk yard like the back of his hand. Surely he could think of a good place for her. Jennyanydots and Skimbleshanks made their home in the TSE 1. Tugger and Bomba stayed in the old truck behind that. Suddenly, he got an idea. "Come."

He took her hand and guided her around the corner, but she stopped walking before he was ready, and pulled him to stop beside her. "Quaxo, wait. What's this?"

He followed her gaze. It was a rather large pile of old, discarded car tires. He tilted his head and looked at her. "What are you thinking?"

She smiled, just a moment. She moved closer, and he noted as she did that she was already displaying the grace and swiftness of a Jellicle. Yes, she would do nicely here. She was examining the pile, and even climbed up on top of it. He grew nervous now. To his knowledge, no one has ever tested the steadiness of this pile of tires, well, Pouncival and Tumblebrutus probably had, they had tested just about anything that was more than ten feet off the ground, but they certainly didn't tell him about everything. "Victoria?"

She didn't reply, but just jumped a couple of times, testing to see if the pile would collapse. "Victoria…"

She was making him nervous. Why did she have to do that? After a moment she came down, and smiled. But she was moving too quickly and slipped off of one just above Quaxo. He moved quickly, and caught her as she fell, causing both of them to fall on the ground. He groaned, but of course thought of her first. "Victoria? Are you alright?"

She nodded, "Are you? I fell on you, are you ok? Did I hurt you?"

She started to get off of him but he grabbed his arms, holding her in place on top of him. She looked down at him, and an odd look came across her face. He wondered briefly what she was thinking. He tried to keep a stern look on his face, but it was difficult with the white pearl sitting on top of him. "Next time…will you let me do it?"

She smirked, "Did I worry you?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Maybe."

She smiled, and leaned down, nuzzling his face. "I'm sorry. Yes, next time I will let you do it."

He sighed, her cheek connecting with his own had broken his resolve. "Good."

She started to climb off of him again, this time he let her, and watched as she looked the pile over again. She found a small gap, between two of the tires, and started to squeeze through, and he cleared his throat.

She smiled and stepped away. "Right, sorry."

He nodded and moved past her, slipping easily through the gap that he knew would be too small for majority of the males in the yard. With the exception of maybe Pouncival and Tumblebrutus who were both still young. There was a small tunnel, that wasn't necessarily straight as it was made of tires, and led to a large hollow cavern. He understood now why the roof was so stable, because the ceiling of this room was created by a large tire, even bigger round than the great tire that made the favorite sitting place of Deuteronomy and Munkustrap. The walls were made of tires stacked on top of each other, and he had to admit, it would be a good place to call home. They could fix it up. "Alright Victoria, come on in."

She crawled through, and he smiled as she approached. She had black on her side from where she had rubbed against a tire. He laughed and rubbed if off of her. "You'll have to be careful if you stay here. You'll get your white coat all dirty."

She nodded, "I can deal with that. What do you think of it?"

He glanced around once more, and then grinned. "It looks good to me. We just need to fix it up a bit."

She looked at him. "Fix it up? How?"

He smirked. "Shooting lightning isn't all I can do."

He snapped his fingers and good sized tire appeared in one corner. He snapped his fingers again and a pile of pillows and blankets appeared as well. "A bed, you can organize it how you like."

She smiled, "You just pulled them out of thin air?"

He smirked. "Not exactly, you can't just create specific things, well at least I can't. I can only move things from one place to another and even then, only if I know where they are originally and exactly where I want them to go."

Victoria nodded. "So where did these come from?"

Quaxo smiled, "The tire came from the top of the pile. I saw it earlier and kept it in mind. The pillows and blankets came from my den. Don't worry," he added when she made a face, "I have plenty."

She smiled, "Thank you."

He nodded. "Of course."

She looked at him for a moment, and then looked down at the floor. He wondered what she was thinking, and started to ask, but decided that he wasn't sure he wanted to know. A lot had happened in the past twenty-four hours, and he expected that she had a lot to think about. "Well, I'll leave you to get settled in."

She looked up at him, "You're leaving?"

He nodded, "For a bit. I need to take care of some things. I'll be back to get you later. You have to meet everyone. But I want you to have some time to nap, or think, or whatever you need to do. Don't worry," He added when she looked down. "I'll be back soon."

She nodded, and he touched the back of his hand to her cheek. They locked eyes just for a moment before he smiled, and walked out.

**_Victoria's POV_**

She watched as he disappeared through the tunnel of tires. She had to admit, this was a good den. She was proud of herself. She walked over to the tire and blankets and pillows that Quaxo had left her, and she started arranging them. Once she had them the way she wanted them she decided to test it, and lay down for a bit.

Yes, it was very comfortable, and she was satisfied. She closed her eyes, and it was only moments before she was sleeping.

She woke suddenly when the roof of her new home trembled. At first she thought she had been dreaming, but then it shook again. She looked up in confusion, and when it happened a third time, she got up and went out to investigate. Now there was a white cat with black and brown stripes, and he was jumping from tire to tire, apparently having a grand ol' time. Victoria looked up at him from the ground. "What are you doing?"

The young tom looked down at her and laughed, "Why, pouncing of course."

Victoria tilted her head. "Why?"

The cat grinned. "Because it's fun, you should try it."

Victoria hesitated. "I don't know…"

The tom looked down at her. "What's your name anyway? I haven't seen you 'round here before."

"Victoria."

"Well, nice to meet you Victoria. I'm Pouncival."

Pouncival, well that explained everything. She smiled and climbed up the mountain of tires. "I suppose I could pounce for a bit."

He grinned, and jumped from the tire he was sitting on to one several feet below, then jumped up one and up one and up one until he sat at the top again. "It's fun."

Victoria nodded, and mimicked his motions. She would jump from one tire, to the next, until she sat at the top. Then she would look around until she found one she felt safe jumping down to, and then she would start it all over again. After a few minutes she was laughing and really having a lot of fun.

"Victoria?"

She had just landed on one of the tires up top when she heard a familiar voice speaking to her. She smiled and looked down. "Quaxo."

Pouncival sighed. "Oh, Magical Mister Party Pooper."

Pouncival laughed and Quaxo glared at a joke at Victoria didn't understand. Quaxo looked up at her now though, and smiled. "Could you come down now?"

She nodded, and jumped.

**_Quaxo's POV_**

Quaxo's eyes widened as he watched Victoria fall through the air. At first he thought everything would be fine. She had been doing this multiple times for the past few minutes right? Right? But he watched in horror as the tire slid out from under her when she landed. She and the tire both went bouncing down the mountain. He flinched with every UMPH and OOH until she landed with a thud on the ground in front of him. "Victoria! Victoria, are you alright?"

She lay still and silent for a moment, and he felt his heart hammer in his chest, but then she blinked and looked up at him, and relief flooded through him once more. "Victoria, are you alright?"

She nodded and groaned as she twisted so she could sit up. He was beside her now, running his hands over her, checking her for anything that might be wrong. But no, she was intact. By the grace of the Everlasting Cat she had made it through alive, and without even a broken bone. Black dust and grime from the rubber tires had stained her coat though, and she almost looked like Alonzo. He sighed, "Victoria. You are going to be the death of me."

She laughed, "I'm going to be the death of _you_? I'm the one that fell down a pile of tires."

He nodded, "Yes, but I almost had a heart attack."

By then Pouncival had joined them on the ground, "That was a great fall! Are you ok?"

Quaxo watched as she nodded, then Pouncival laughed, "That was so awesome! You should have seen it from the top! You're so lucky you didn't get hurt more than you did! Next time we'll – "

Quaxo cut him off with a glare and Pouncival quickly stopped talking. "Right, well it was nice to meet you Victoria. See you later. I'll stop jumping on the tires now that I know you're staying under there."

She nodded in thanks and he bounced away. She laughed, "He's fun."

Quaxo rolled his eyes, but was smiling. "Next time, can you maybe not jump down so far?"

She laughed and nodded. "Next time? Ha. My dear there isn't going to be a next time. I may have laughed it off…but that was terrifying."

Quaxo resisted the urge to jump for joy at that, instead he simply said, "That's probably a wise decision."

It didn't escape his observation that she had called him "my dear." He liked it. He liked it a lot. But he needed to get back to why he had come over here in the first place. "So," He began, "Whenever we get a new member of the tribe, we always hold a small get together."

Her eyes widened, "Like, a party?"

Quaxo smiled, "You said it, not me."

She jumped excitedly. Pouncival, it seemed, had rubbed off on her. "Oh! I've never been to a party before. I wish I hadn't fallen and gotten all dirty."

Quaxo laughed, "Let's go to my den. We can get you cleaned up in there."

**_Victoria's POV_**

Once they were in Quaxo's den, he snapped his fingers and a bowl of water and a small towel appeared on a small box that she supposed was meant to be a table. She chuckled, "So where did these come from?"

Quaxo laughed as he wet the towel with the water. "Don't worry about it," He pointed to the box where he slept. "Could you lie down for me please?"

She nodded, and did as he asked. He brought the bowl and tire with him, and pulled another box over which he sat on, and began patting her gently with the towel.

She decided now would be a perfect time to ask all of her questions. "Quaxo?"

"Hmm?"

"Why does Rum Tum Tugger call you Misto?"

He smiled as he dabbed at a particularly black spot. "You remember the 'other me?' The one without the white paws?"

Her eyes darkened. Yes. She remembered alright. She honestly was kind of worried about what would happen when she saw him again. The last time she had he had been shooting lightning at her. No, not at her, she corrected herself. He had been aiming at George…

"Victoria?"

Hearing him call her brought her out of her reverie. "Yes, sorry. I remember."

He nodded, "I expected you would. Well, when I'm in that form, I go by Mister Mistoffelees."

She chuckled. "So Misto."

He smiled and nodded as he wet the towel again. "Misto. Tugger is one of the few that call me that when I'm myself."

"I like them both."

He glanced at her, "You mean the names?"

She nodded. "They both suit you."

He smiled, and leaned back on his seat. "Well this side is all done. Could you flip around so I can get the other?"

She nodded and did as she was told. Quaxo went to work on a large spot on her shoulder, and suddenly she flinched.

He jerked his hand back, "Did I hurt you?"

She shook her head. "No…that's where the scratches are. They aren't completely healed yet."

He sighed, "So I did hurt you."

Victoria lowered her head. "Well, maybe a little."

He nodded and started again, more gentle this time. "I'm sorry, I'll be more careful."

She lowered her head on one of the pillows as she felt him cleaning her. He was being careful, but the towel was still pulling at the slowly forming scar. She knew when he was done with it though, because he stopped, and when she looked back he was just looking at it. He lifted his hand to it and ran his fingers gently along the scratches, "Quaxo?"

He looked at her, and for a moment she could see something in his brown eyes, she wasn't sure what it was, but then it was gone. He said nothing and went back to cleaning her. He was almost done now.

She asked again "Quaxo?"

He paused in his cleaning and looked at her now. The look in his eyes was clouded, and she wasn't sure what he was thinking. She looked down. "Thank you for bringing me here. I don't know what I would have done…"

He put his hand on her shoulder, "Hey, something tells me you would have been just fine."

She only nodded, and he went back to cleaning her, "Well, I'm sorry that you had to go through that. I'm sorry I didn't meet you sooner."

She smiled, "Well, it was my own fault really."

He looked at her, "Why is that?"

"Well, because you have walked down my street numerous times. I've seen you. But I was afraid because I thought all cats were like George, so I hid."

He tilted his head, "So what was different about this time?"

She shrugged, "Well, I knew my humans were leaving soon, so I supposed you couldn't hurt me more than he would later."

He slowly nodded. "I'd never hurt you." And then he looked at the wall for a moment and added, "Well, not on purpose anyway."

She smiled, "I know."

She watched as some thought crossed his mind, and he smiled, "Well, thanks for deciding to come. I'm really glad you did. I was worried about you."

She smirked, and quoted Tugger. "Were you _losing your mind_?"

He chuckled, "Well I suppose you were going to ask me about that sooner or later."

She nodded expectantly, and he continued, "Truth is," He said as he wiped away the last black spot. "I would have eventually asked you to come here, even if you hadn't been stuck with George."

She looked at him now, curiosity filled her face. "You would have?"

Quaxo smirked. "Of course I would have. You belong here."

She didn't say anything more on it. She didn't know what else to say. He wanted her to be here, and that was all she cared about.

After another minute, he smiled and stood up. "There, you're all clean and beautiful again."

Victoria smiled, he had called her beautiful, and that may have been the best compliment anyone had ever given, simply because it came from him. "Thank you."

Quaxo smiled, "Now, are you ready to attend a party?"

* * *

**Chapter Eight Preview:**

There was an older cat that had just entered the clearing, and all the other cats were clearing away from her as if she was diseased. Victoria touched Quaxo's arm, "What's going on?"

Quaxo shook his head. "That is Grizzabella. She used to be Old Deuteronomy's mate, but she left the tribe a while back. No one really knows why, some say she wanted to see the world. Some say she wanted to pursue an acting career. There are multiple theories. But once you leave the tribe, you can never come back. She left, so she is an outcast. She abandoned us."

Victoria looked at the older cat who walked towards them now. For some reason, her heart broke for the cat. "Poor thing."

Quaxo looked down at her, "Victoria, she left the tribe. It was her choice. She has to live with the consequences."

Victoria nodded, and looked at the cat once more. Grizzabella's eyes seemed to be staring right into hers, and she stepped behind Quaxo. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a memory stirred, but something told her she didn't want to remember it, so she pushed it away.

The old cat moved closer to the two of them, Quaxo stood tall in front of Victoria, but Grizzabella wasn't looking at him, didn't even seem to notice him, instead she was looking at Victoria, and Victoria was feeling very uncomfortable. Victoria leaned against Quaxo and closed her eyes, willing the older cat to leave her alone.

But then the cat spoke, and to Victoria, it all made sense. "Tori."


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:** Ok, so this one gets a bit complicated here. I decided that there was just too much going on at once in this chapter, and I wanted to get all of it and it just wasn't possible from one person's POV, so the first section of this chapter is Omnipotent. We learn about Victoria's past, and her connection to the junk yard. As far as relationships go, my theories have changed since I wrote this (almost a month ago now...WOW!) but since it's already in the story and I'd have to do a lot of work it's going to stay the way it is. But anyway, this is another long one, so I hope you guys like it! please review!? I love getting those things :-) they make my day. Also - I don't own CATS.

* * *

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

**_Omnipotent POV_**

Quaxo smiled as he led her into the largest clearing in the junkyard. This was where the Jellicle Cats had all of their get-togethers. The Jellicle Ball was held here once a year, and this was where many of the cats got together just to talk. This was where the party for Victoria's arrival would be held.

As they approached the large group of cats, numbering close to twenty, Victoria moved to where she was walking behind him. Quaxo laughed and stepped out of the way, pulling her forward so she was beside him. "Victoria, you can't hide. They are all here to meet you."

She nodded, "I know, but I'm scared."

He sighed and put his arm around her. "I promise, none of the cats here want to hurt you."

Before she could reply, they were met by Munkustrap and Rum Tum Tugger, both cats bowed when they reached her. Munkustrap low and graceful, Tugger not half as low, just enough to say he'd done it, and very dramatic. She smirked and gave a curtsey in return. "Hello."

Munkustrap offered her his hand, and she took it. He pulled her away from Quaxo. She was now being led up to the great tire, with Munkustrap on one arm, and Rum Tum Tugger on the other. She glanced back over her shoulder to see Quaxo.

He smiled and gave her a nod. He knew she was nervous, and he wished that he could be the one to take her on to the stage. He felt she'd be more comfortable with that, but she needed to learn to be comfortable with everyone, and she wouldn't be able to if he was acting like her shadow all the time. He gave her one final look before walking over and joining the rest of the cats that had gathered.

Victoria saw him join the cats, and saw that they were all watching her now. She started to back away, but both toms gently placed a hand on her back stopping her. Munkustrap gave her a reassuring smile, "Don't worry Victoria. "

Tugger nodded and reached his free arm towards the group, "This is your family now Victoria. None of us will hurt you."

She looked from one tom cat to the other, and then down to Quaxo. He just smiled at her. He wouldn't let them hurt her. She nodded and the two cats led her up to the tire, and once there turned her to face the crowd.

Munkustrap stepped up first. "Good evening everyone, we have a new family member to introduce to you."

Tugger led Victoria a few steps up, and smiled, "This, my friends, is Victoria!"

All the cats meowed and cheered in excitement, and Victoria couldn't help but smile.

Munkustrap moved his arms to get their attention and the cheering stopped, "Victoria has been through a lot in the past few days, and she is cautious of other cats, with good reason. Let's welcome her and make her feel at home! She belongs with us now."

The cheering erupted again, and this time nobody stopped it. She noticed Tugger make some sort of motion, and then Quaxo was moving through the horde of cats, and soon stood in front of her. "Allow me to be the first to welcome you!"

He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight, and rubbed her cheek with his. He pulled away, and took her hand. "Welcome Victoria. Come meet everyone."

Then all four cats were descending from the tire, and were moving into the crowd. Victoria, still a bit nervous, made sure to stay close to Quaxo's side. Quaxo knew she was terrified, and stayed by her side, acting as her escort.

They were greeted by all of the cats in the yard. Jennyanydots and Skimbleshanks were the closest, and Jenny gave Victoria a brilliant hug and Skimbleshanks bowed. "Lovely ta meet you."

Then came the kittens, if you could call them kittens. Jemima, Electra, Etcetera, Pouncival and Tumblebrutus, they were all varying ages, and Victoria was barely out of their age group. They all hugged her and rubbed against her. Pouncival apologized for her accident earlier in the afternoon, and she assured him it wasn't his fault. Quaxo wasn't so sure, but kept silent, glad that Pouncival had apologized at all.

Then came Demeter and Bombalurina. Victoria shrunk closer to Quaxo as the red queen approached. Bombalurina sighed, "Look, I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to upset you. Quaxo will tell you, I can be a bit overdramatic."

Victoria smiled and nodded. "He may have mentioned it."

Demeter smiled, "Don't worry about my sister. Much like Tugger, she's all bark."

Bombalurina winked at that, and Victoria smirked. Then the two sisters were gone.

The rest of the tribe came up in two's, it all happened so fast that it was difficult to tell who was who, but Victoria did know one thing for sure, they all seemed very nice, some more dramatic or eccentric than others, but none of them dangerous.

Slowly throughout the night Victoria began to relax, and even seemed to be enjoying herself. Quaxo eventually stepped off to the side, leaving Victoria chatting with Jemima and Etcetera, and moved to sit on the tire with Munkustrap and Tugger.

Munkustrap nodded as he approached, "Well, she seems to be acclimating well."

Quaxo nodded, "I knew she would. She just needs to get used to being around everyone is all."

Tugger nodded, "It will come with time."

Down in the crowd, Victoria really was enjoying herself. She expected she and Jemima would be good friends quickly, and she also enjoyed talking to Pouncival and Tumblebrutus. The three of them kept her laughing and smiling.

Suddenly they all looked up towards the tire, and she followed their gaze to see Munkustrap standing, arms wide. "Now, Quaxo, if you don't mind?"

Quaxo stood beside him and smiled, then he swept his arms out below him, and moved them in circles as raised them. All around them lights came on and others went out, and somewhere it sounded like music was playing. And then all the cats around started cheering again.

Victoria had been watching the lights and all the other cats begin to dance, and was startled by a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Munkustrap standing there, holding out a hand. "Dance with me?"

She hesitated, she was afraid to dance. She didn't want others to see, and she didn't think she'd be good enough, months of her mother telling her so as a kitten had engrained into her mind. She'd never danced with another cat before, and she doubted she'd be able to live up to any expectations he might have. She glanced around at the other cats who were all moving in beautiful and graceful steps. She looked up at him, about to decline, but he smiled, apparently guessing her thoughts "Don't worry. I'll teach you."

After a moment, she nodded. He bowed and took her hand, leading her to where the rest of the cats danced, and then they were dancing. At first she stumbled around a bit, but as it went on she was able to relax, and stopped worrying about what everyone thought of her, and just danced.

Quaxo still sat on the tire, watching the rest of the cats enjoy. He especially watched Victoria as she danced with Munkustrap. He was glad she was having fun, and she was even keeping up with Munkustrap pretty well considering she'd never danced on two legs before. It wouldn't surprise him at all if before long she was the best dancer of the group.

He watched as Tugger interrupted Munkustrap and Victoria, and cut in. The two of them danced for a while, before Alonzo cut in, and then Admetus, and then Pouncival, whom she seemed to really enjoy dancing with and that bothered Quaxo to no end. Finally Plato cut in, and Quaxo glared at the pair. Plato was a good dancer, and even picked Victoria up, twisting her around his body and even up over his head. Quaxo stood up then. That was enough of that. He walked down and as he grew closer to the pair he saw Victoria was smiling. She was enjoying herself. He paused, just outside the edge of the dancing cats. If she was having fun maybe he shouldn't interfere, that was the whole point of this evening's activities wasn't it?

He felt an elbow in his side, and turned to see Tugger standing beside him. The larger cat smirked, "If you want her, you're going to have to go get her."

Quaxo nodded. Tugger was right, after all, and he lifted his head to stand straight and proud as he finally approached Plato and Victoria. Victoria forced Plato to stop as she saw Quaxo approaching, and while she may have been smiling with Plato, the smile she wore now was even brighter.

The acknowledgement of this, of course, brought a new smile to his own features as he offered her his hand. "My apologies Plato, but I really must steal her from you."

Plato nodded, and smiled as he passed her over…and then they were together.

The two stood there for a moment, not really moving or doing anything, then finally Victoria spoke, "I've been waiting for you all night."

Quaxo smiled, "Sorry to keep you waiting. Had I known, I might have cut in sooner."

She laughed and he took her into his arms, and then they were dancing. They twisted and twirled and leapt about. Neither of them really noticed much of anything else.

Back on the tire, Munkustrap and Rum Tum Tugger sat watching the whole event, but Tugger was the first to mention the pair, "I think our Misto may have found his mate."

Munkustrap smiled, but shook his head. "Not until he says so. You know how it goes, we can't go making assumptions. And besides, it's too soon. They've hardly known each other a week, and aside from that, she seemed to enjoy dancing with Plato."

Tugger laughed, "Everyone enjoys dancing with Plato."

Now it was the grey tom's turn to laugh, "Everyone also enjoys dancing with you."

Tugger shrugged, "Eh. What can I say? I'm just too awesome."

Munkustrap rolled his eyes, and then went back to watching Victoria. "She has learned very quickly. She will fit in very well."

Rum Tum Tugger nodded. "She's going to be better than all of us."

Munkustrap couldn't help but agree. He looked up at the moon, which was a sliver of a smile just above the horizon. "Well, I suppose it's time to draw these celebrations to a close don't you? Before she shows up?"

The black tom shook his head, "She is probably already here or on her way. But yeah, let's wrap this up."

The grey tabby nodded, and stood up, lifting his arms out. One by one the cats that were dancing saw, and stopped, focusing their attention on him. The last pair to stop was Quaxo and Victoria, and Victoria was the one to stop first, forcing Quaxo to look up. "We once again welcome you to our Yard, Victoria. We hope you will enjoy it here. Now – "

Suddenly he stopped talking, and was just glaring at something behind them. Quaxo and Victoria both turned to see what he stared at, so did everyone else. Victoria didn't understand what the fuss was about.

There was an older cat that had just entered the clearing, and all the other cats were clearing away from her as if she was diseased. Victoria touched Quaxo's arm, "What's going on?"

Quaxo shook his head. "That is Grizzabella. She used to be Old Deuteronomy's mate, but she left the tribe a while back. No one really knows why, some say she wanted to see the world. Some say she wanted to pursue an acting career. There are multiple theories. But once you leave the tribe, you can never come back. She left, so she is an outcast. She abandoned us."

Victoria looked at the older cat who walked towards them now. For some reason, her heart broke for the cat. "Poor thing."

Quaxo looked down at her, "Victoria, she left the tribe. It was her choice. She has to live with the consequences."

Victoria nodded, and looked at the cat once more. Grizzabella's eyes seemed to be staring right into hers, and she stepped behind Quaxo. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a memory stirred, but something told her she didn't want to remember it, so she pushed it away.

The old cat moved closer to the two of them, Quaxo stood tall in front of Victoria, but Grizzabella wasn't looking at him, didn't even seem to notice him, instead she was looking at Victoria, and Victoria was feeling very uncomfortable. Victoria leaned against Quaxo and closed her eyes, willing the older cat to leave her alone.

"Tori."

Victoria's eyes snapped open, and for the first time looked around Quaxo and looked, truly looked, at the cat that had just spoken, and had spoken to her. Victoria's eyes widened and she shook her head.

Quaxo was confused by this turn of events, but could tell that something had upset Victoria. He glared at Grizzabella and moved to block Victoria from her view.

The old queen looked up at him, and narrowed her eyes. She tried for one more look at Victoria, and failed before she turned and walked away and out of the clearing.

Once she was gone, Quaxo turned to face Victoria, and put a hand on her cheek. "Victoria? What's wrong? Don't let her get to you; she tries to appeal to everyone."

Victoria shook her head, and pulled away from Quaxo. "I'm sorry, but I have to go for now."

She gave a quick look at all the other cats in the clearing, and left, heading straight for her pile of tires.

Munkustrap gave a curious look to Quaxo, who shrugged. The other cats watched her leave, but soon began to disperse. Quaxo moved up to the tire to speak with Munkustrap. The grey cat smiled as he approached, "I think everything went well overall. I wonder why she went off so quickly."

Quaxo shrugged, "I don't know, but I'm going to find out. But first, I wish to speak to you."

Munkustrap nodded, "I expect I know what this is about."

"You do?"

Munkustrap lifted an eyebrow. "You wish to take Victoria as your mate."

Quaxo couldn't help but smile to hear it spoken out loud. "Yes, I do."

Munkustrap sighed, "Quaxo, she hasn't even been here two days yet. Barely over twenty-four hours. Don't you think it's a bit soon to spring mate-ship on her?"

Quaxo sighed, he hadn't considered that. Munkustrap continued, "Are you even sure she wants the same thing?"

Quaxo glared at him, and Munk shrugged, "I'm just making sure you have truly considered this. I know she means a lot to you. Anyone can see that, and I know you have worried about her a lot over the past few days. I just want to make sure you know for sure how she feels for you before you go rushing into things you won't be able to get out of later."

Quaxo groaned and sat down beside the grey tom. She felt the same way. He knew she did. He could feel it. The way she looked at him, the way she cuddled closer to him…she had to. She just had to.

Munkustrap nodded, "She may have to, but that doesn't mean she does."

Quaxo looked up, he hadn't realized he'd said the last bit out loud. Munkustrap spoke again. "You've saved her life. Why don't you give her some time, make sure she doesn't look at you strictly as the hero. If she does it will wear off in a few weeks. Give it that long. If you and she still feel the same, then I'll certainly give you blessing."

Quaxo nodded. He was deeply saddened by this, but he supposed there was every possibility that she only cared for him because he had rescued her. He didn't want it to be just for that. So he would take Munk's advice, he would wait it out, and see what happened. Then one thought took over his mind, and dread filled his heart, "What if she begins to like another tom?"

Munkustrap looked down with a sigh, and then looked back up, placing a hand on Quaxo's shoulder, "If that does happen, I'm afraid you'll have your answer."

This did not make Quaxo happy. Not at all, but he gave a small nod and stood up.

"I'm sorry Quaxo, I just think it's for the best."

Our tuxedo cat nodded. "You're probably right," and he left to check on Victoria.

**_Victoria's POV_**

She shook her head as she entered her new home. What was SHE doing here? She couldn't believe it. Victoria leaned against the wall of tires, and glared at nothing in particular. Memories flooded her mind, and for once, she didn't push them away.

These memories were painful. There were memories of watching her mother dance, of her mother trying to teach her to dance, of her mother complaining about her form, or timing, always wanting her to be perfect, but never actually being so, other memories of her mother finally growing tired of the whole thing and walking away, memories of being cold and alone on the street.

As these thoughts racked her mind she slid down until she sat on the floor, and wrapped her arms around her knees. Quaxo had said the cat was Grizzabella. He said she had been here before, that she had been the best dancer in the tribe. Victoria could believe that. She had watched the cat dance constantly, and it had been beautiful. She had tried so hard to live up to her mother's expectations, but as she grew older, her mother just was never satisfied.

She leaned her head against the wall. She could have been born here, to this world. She could have known Quaxo her entire life. Where would she be now? But no, her mother had left this world, for whatever reason. She had had Victoria and raised her on her own, or attempted to raise her…

Her thoughts were interrupted by Quaxo entering her den. He spotted her sitting on the floor, and moved slowly towards her. "Victoria? What is it? What's the matter?"

Victoria shook her head, she couldn't tell Quaxo. She couldn't tell anyone. What if they judged her like they did Grizzabella? Would they cast her out? She couldn't take that risk. She'd keep it to herself. The tuxedo tom sighed and moved to sit beside her. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Victoria considered this. She did trust Quaxo. She trusted him with her life. Surely he wouldn't allow them to cast her out? He would keep her secret…but she had to make sure. "Quaxo, can you keep a secret?"

His ears perked forward, and his eyes narrowed but he nodded. "Of course."

She sighed, "I need to know when Grizzabella left the tribe."

Quaxo tilted his head at her line of question, but considered his answer for a moment. "I was only a kitten, so I'd say not quite two years ago."

Victoria couldn't believe it. Grizzabella had probably been pregnant with her when she left, although she doubted that the old cat had known about it at the time. Would she have left had she known? Did she try to come back once she did know?

Quaxo nuzzled her shoulder, which brought her attention back to him, and he sighed, "I really must know what is troubling you so."

She looked down at the floor. "Grizzabella…she is my mother."

There was an intake of breath beside her and she looked up to see Quaxo watching her very carefully. She couldn't stand seeing him study her like that, so she looked down again. "She must have been pregnant with me when she left, or else, got pregnant right after she left…"

Quaxo didn't comment on that, but instead asked "So, what happened?"

Victoria looked up at him, but didn't really see him. Her mind was elsewhere. "She was obsessed with me learning to dance. We would spend hours working on it. She wanted me to be perfect, insisted on it…but I was young, and didn't want to dance at the time, and then whenever I did dance I was clumsy and couldn't get it the way she wanted me to. I was a disappointment."

Quaxo sighed and put his arm around Victoria, who leaned into him and continued. "Even when I started really trying to make her happy, it still was never good enough. After only a few months she decided I wasn't worth the effort. She said she was going out and that she'd be back, but she never returned. I waited there for days. I was only a few months old. I wandered around as a stray, barely even surviving for the next few months until I found myself in the humans' back yard."

"Victoria…" Quaxo started to speak, and Victoria looked up, but he fell silent. She supposed he didn't really know what to say. What was he supposed to say? She sighed, "I didn't even recognize her tonight. She looked so different from when I lost saw her."

He nodded, "Life has not been kind to her."

"Quaxo," she started. "I could have been born here. I could have grown up here, with you."

He sighed and hugged her to him. "None of that matters right now. All that matters is that you're here now."

She nodded, and looked up at him, "You won't tell anyone will you? What will they think of me…"

Quaxo shrugged, "I doubt it would change much, but I'll keep it to myself if you wish."

She smiled, "Thank you."

"Of course," He started, "However, I will need to tell Munkustrap. He needs to know."

She looked up at him, "Why?"

He smiled, "Because, as it turns out, Munkustrap is your older brother."

Victoria stared at him for a moment, and then smiled. "I have a brother."

Quaxo laughed, "Three, actually."

Victoria looked up, startled, "Not you…"

He smirked, "No. Not me, but Rum Tum Tugger and Admetus are also sons of Deuteronomy and Grizzabella."

She looked away, she couldn't believe it. She had not one, but three siblings. She smiled, and cuddled into Quaxo. "I really do belong here."

He smiled, and nodded. "You certainly do."

Suddenly she sat up, "Wait, did you say, 'sons of Deuteronomy?' "

He nodded, "That's right. Deuteronomy, if she indeed was pregnant when she left, is your father."

Victoria's eyes widened. In just a few minutes she had gained not only a sibling, but three, as well as a father. This was just too much to take in. She sank against Quaxo once more. "I have a family."

He nodded against her head, "Yes you do."

The two of them sat there in silence, and soon Victoria fell asleep.

**_Quaxo's POV_**

When he knew she was asleep he rose slowly, and bent down to pick her up so that he could carry her to the bed he had provided her. He set her down gently, and then left to find Munkustrap. This could not wait, and he hoped that Munkustrap had not already retired for the evening.

When he reached the Great Clearing he smiled. He was in luck! Munkustrap sat on the tire as always, and was talking with Tugger. Quaxo smiled as he approached, and Munkustrap looked up, "Quaxo? It's getting late. Is everything alright?"

Quaxo nodded, "Yes, everything is fine. I need to talk to you, about Victoria."

Munk sighed, "We have already discussed this Quax. My decision will not change."

Quaxo smiled, "Yes, I understand that. But you see, that isn't what I want to talk to you about."

Tugger must have sensed something important about to be said, so he stood up, "I think I'll leave you two to discuss this, it sounds important."

He turned to leave and Quaxo nodded as the large cat left. He needed to discuss this with Munkustrap first, then he could decide where they would go from there. Once Rum Tum Tugger was out of the clearing, Munkustrap turned to face Quaxo with an eyebrow lifted. "What's this all about Quaxo? Is Victoria alright?"

Quaxo nodded, and kind of smirked. "She's fine, she just…had a scare."

Munkustrap tilted his head. "Oh?"

"Yes, see, Grizzabella made an appearance tonight."

The grey tom sighed, "Yes, I'm aware."

Quaxo hesitated, "Well, it kind of upset Victoria."

Munkustrap nodded, "Understandable. Grizzabella tends to have that affect on people."

Quaxo shook his head, "No, it's more than that."

Munkustrap watched him carefully now, "Really? How so?"

Quaxo paused, for the first time afraid of what his friend and leader would think of the fact that Victoria was his sister, but he knew he couldn't hide the fact for long, so he might as well come out with it. "Apparently, Grizzabella is her mother."

Munkustrap's eyes widened, and for a long moment he didn't say anything. Quaxo was almost afraid of what he was thinking. Then the other cat's eyes narrowed and he looked at Quaxo very pointedly. "Are you positive?"

Quaxo nodded. "Victoria was very upset about it. Grizzabella recognized her first, and even called her Tori, I was there and I heard it. Victoria remembers her."

Munkustrap looked away for a few seconds, before speaking again. "So, Victoria is my sister."

Quaxo gave a small nod in response, and Munkustrap smiled. "Fascinating."

There were a few moments of silence before Munkustrap sighed, "How does she feel about her mother? Or the fact that she is an outcast?"

Quaxo hesitated. "I'm not a hundred percent sure, Munk. I know she wasn't pleased to see her again. I explained to her why we act the way that we do. She seemed to understand."

Munk nodded. "Did you tell her about me?"

Quaxo smiled, "Of course. She was very excited."

Munkustrap smiled. "I'll have to speak with her tomorrow. See what she is thinking."

Quaxo made a face, "You aren't going to turn into the overprotective big brother are you?"

The smirk Munkustrap sent Quaxo made him laugh, "Of course I am. I'll also have to inform Tugger. He'll be very interested to know."

Quaxo nodded, "Well, I'll leave you think on all of that. I'm headed in for the night."

"Quaxo?"

Something about his voice made Quaxo nervous. "Yes, Munkustrap?"

The grey cat hesitated, started to say something but seemed to change his mind. "Never mind, we'll talk further on it later."

Quaxo started to push him for more information but thought better of it, and nodded. "Goodnight Munkustrap."

The grey striped cat nodded, and Quaxo returned to his den.

**_Victoria's POV_**

Victoria woke with a yawn and a stretch, and then the events of the previous night came back to her, and she met the memories with mixed emotions. On the one hand, her mother was alive, which meant that her assumptions had been correct, Grizzabella had abandoned her, and that broke her heart. But on the other hand, she had a brother! No, not one, but three! She smiled. She still didn't fully believe it. Briefly she wondered if Quaxo had told Munkustrap or Tugger yet. She hoped they would be as excited as she was. She wondered how Admetus would feel about it. He was apparently the youngest of her brothers, and he had still been young when Grizzabella left. She wondered how he would feel about her.

She decided there was only one way to know, and that was to go find out. She rose up from her tire, and with one more stretch decided to venture out towards the Great Clearing. She expected Munkustrap would be there, and maybe Rum Tum Tugger too.

Sure enough, as she entered the clearing she immediately spotted Munkustrap sitting up on the tire. He apparently saw her too, because now he had stood up and was walking towards her. "Victoria!"

She smiled, "Hello, Munkustrap."

He bowed as he reached her, as he always did, and smiled, "Did you sleep well? I saw you dash out of here last night."

Victoria looked down, "Oh, yes. I just…I had a bit of a shock."

Munkustrap nodded, "Yes, I have heard about that."

She looked up again, "Quaxo talked to you?"

This time he smiled, "Yes. And I believe that now we have some things to discuss."

Victoria nodded, and he led her up to the tire. "So Grizzabella is your mother."

She nodded again as she took a seat, "Yes. She is."

Munkustrap nodded, "You're sure?"

She chuckled, "Yes, I'm sure." Munkustrap didn't look convinced, so she sighed and continued. "She stayed with me for the first few months, and tried to teach me to dance. But I guess she never thought I was good enough to amount to anything so she left one day and never came back. I was a stray on the streets for months before the humans found me."

The grey and black tom sighed as he sat down beside her. "It must have been scary."

Victoria nodded, "It rained a lot, and I spent a lot of time hiding in storm drains, or running from Pollicles. I'd sneak food out of human's trash cans and they'd throw stuff at me. I ended up in the back yard of the house I've been staying in, and the humans saw me. I was scared of them of course, but they started leaving food out for me, and eventually I came to trust them. Then I was a house cat."

He sighed again. "I wish we had known. If we had known she'd been pregnant when she left, we would have looked for her, and you, and at least brought you back."

Victoria sighed, and she wished that she'd grown up here, with brothers and friends. Safe. "I wish I had known all of this was here. I would have come sooner, but she never mentioned it, she never talked about any of it."

He watched the ground in silence for a few minutes, "Well, you are here now."

She gave a small smile, "Yes. If I hadn't met Quaxo, I'd still be stuck at home with George."

She saw him tense out of the corner of her eye, and a sound that was half hiss, half growl. "That beast, I have half a mind to go rip him in half."

Victoria's eyes widened and she looked at him, "What? Why?"

Munkustrap smirked, "You are my sister now. You are a part of my family now, and we take care of our family. I wish I had known you existed earlier. We would have gotten you out far earlier."

Victoria shrugged, "I was doing alright. It wasn't really that bad until he started getting mad at me for talking to Quaxo. Up until then, sure, he was mean, but he'd never hit me like that before."

She looked at her shoulder where the marks were still there from his attack. With a small smile she remembered how Quaxo had found her that afternoon, and had helped her.

"What are you smiling about?"

She looked up at Munkustrap. "What? Oh…nothing. I was just remembering something."

He lifted an eyebrow, "About George?"

She smirked, "No, not about George."

* * *

**Chapter Nine Preview:**

Teazer smirked, "Well, you ought ta know, Macavity is th' mos' evil cat in th' count'y. He's killed! Peop'l and cat's alike! He's catnapp'd Demet'r once, and no 'ne knows wha' he did ta 'er."

At that Bombalurina stepped in, making Victoria, as well as Jemima and Teazer, jump. "And if you did know you would wish you didn't."

She looked at Victoria, "What Teazer says is close enough to the truth. Macavity is not to be trifled with. He's pure evil, and wouldn't think twice about hurting any of us to get what he wants. You, in particular Victoria, should be on your guard."

This made Victoria's skin crawl, and she was confused, "Me? Why?"

Bombalurina smirked, "Well, you are of a particular interest to Quaxo, and Quaxo is of a particular interest to Macavity."

Victoria's eyes widened, she was a particular interest to Quaxo? That sounded like a good thing. "Why is Macavity interested in Quaxo?"

Bomba laughed, "Well that's easy, Quaxo is Macavity's son."


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:**So, hopefully you guys will find this bit interesting again. We learn a little about Quaxo's past, and toward's the end it really pics up. You'll probably notice that Admetus has been made prominent to the story...yeah, I love him. He's adorable. That's all I'm going to say about this one. Hope you guys enjoy it! Please review :-D It really helps me out to know what you all think about it and what you would like to see happen.

* * *

**Chapter Nine:**

_**Quaxo's POV**_

It had now been several days, almost a week actually, since he had brought Victoria to the junk yard. He was happy to say, she seemed to be enjoying it. She had become good friends with Jemima and Rumpleteazer, and while she occasionally grew tired of Electra and Etcetera's games, overall she enjoyed their company as well.

Currently, he sat upon the great tire with Munkustrap, Tugger, and Admetus. Tumblebrutus and Pouncival were there with Plato. They were practicing their airs and graces, flips, and of course, pouncing. They occasionally would begin wrestling, but as Plato was the oldest of the three and by far the largest, he rarely lost unless the two managed to come together to beat him. He turned his attention to across the clearing, where almost all of the queens were dancing. Victoria stood between Jemima and Rumpleteazer, and the rest of the queens were gathered around. They were practicing the dances that they would perform at the Jellicle Ball next month.

He smiled as he watched Victoria. With the exception of perhaps Cassandra, she was easily the most graceful of all the queens. She was amazing to watch. She had superb balance, that few of the other queens did, and a coordination that was unmatched. Yes, Quaxo was very glad that he had brought her here.

He happened to glance back to where majority of the toms were playing, and noticed Plato was watching Victoria as well. Quaxo glared at the red and white cat, knowing full well what was on the tom's mind. He didn't need to be psychic like Coricopat and Tantomile, to see that Plato had also taken a liking to Victoria. Quaxo had noticed the tom watching her a lot over the past few days, and was secretly very glad that Victoria hadn't done very much to encourage him. Yes, she was friendly and polite when he ventured over to speak to her, but she didn't seek out his company. Quaxo, on the other hand, she sought out quite often.

There had been multiple times when she had come to his den in the middle of the night. She had been accustomed to sleeping in a house with sturdy walls and a ceiling and windows to look out of. She had been accustomed to cat food – from a can! Lucky girl, and while they had plenty of mice, birds, and even dry cat food occasionally to go around, she wasn't used to the change. It was a big difference from what her life had been only a few days ago, and while she thoroughly enjoyed her waking hours, it was obvious to Quaxo that she wasn't sleeping well.

And she tried, he knew she did. She never came to his den until only a few hours before dawn, and always complaining about how she hadn't wanted to bother him, but eventually boredom and loneliness won out. He told her every time that she didn't need to be afraid of "bothering" him. He didn't explain that she couldn't possibly be a bother.

"Oh, look who it is!" Munkustrap's words behind him pulled him from his thoughts, and brought him back to the present. He followed the stripped tom's gaze, to see the Rumpus Cat slinking his way across the clearing.

Quaxo tilted his head, "Well, that's odd. He rarely comes here unless there is some sort of news. Where is Old Deuteronomy today?"

Munkustrap shrugged, "With a family of humans across town. I do not expect him to come back until the Jellicle Ball."

Rum Tum Tugger smirked, "Then it must be something to do with Bustopher." Tugger looked to Quaxo, "Have you heard from your Uncle lately?"

Quaxo shook his head, "I confess, I have not. I have been distracted…"

Tugger nodded, "Oh, yes, with my little sister."

Munkustrap had informed Tugger of their new sibling shortly after learning of it himself. From what Quaxo could tell, they were both quite pleased with the information. Munkustrap seemed about to comment on the subject, when Rumpus finally reached them, so instead he nodded a greeting, "Hello Rumpus. Didn't expect to see you, what brings you here today? Business as usual or strictly social?"

The great grey cat tilted his head, and his red eyes seemed to glare at Munkustrap, but then he turned his gaze on Quaxo, and with such speed that it caused our tuxedo tom to jump. The grey tom spoke with his raspy voice that made everyone else nervous, "Your Uncle is visiting with the Palace Cats in a few days, and wishes to introduce you."

Quaxo's eyes widened, "Bustopher? Visiting the royal cats? Why would he need me to go?"

Rumpus shrugged, "How should I know? I suppose you are his nephew, and of course you are gifted. Why shouldn't he want to show you off?"

Quaxo nodded, "I suppose."

Rumpus glanced across the field to where Alonzo stood, now talking to Plato. "He has also requested Alonzo come."

Quaxo looked across at Alonzo, and then towards Victoria who had seen the Rumpus Cat come in, and was watching them speak with obvious curiosity. Jemima was apparently explaining to Victoria who Rumpus was, as she seemed to be whispering in the white queen's ear, and Victoria was nodding.

Quaxo gave a sigh, and nodded, "Very well. We'll head out first thing in the morning."

Rumpus shook his head, "No, Bustopher wants you to visit with him for a day before you go, so he wishes you to come tonight."

Quaxo's eyes widened, "Tonight? Why tonight? I'd have to leave in a few hours to get there before nightfall."

Rumpus shrugged, "I didn't come up with the message, Kid, just delivering it."

With that he turned and slinked off, and Quaxo sat glaring. Tugger spoke and Quaxo could almost feel his smirk, "Well, looks like my sister will have to survive for a few days without you, Misto."

Quaxo glared at him and turned to Munkustrap, "You two will keep an eye on her, I'm sure?"

Munkustrap nodded, and hit Tugger's stomach when he scoffed, "Of course we will, Quaxo. Go speak to her and your brother."

Quaxo nodded, and with one last glare at Tugger, retreated from the Great Tire and crossed the clearing to speak with Alonzo. Alonzo and Plato looked up and nodded as he approached. "Alonzo, Bustopher wants us to come visit for a few days. He also wants to introduce us to the Royale Cats."

Alonzo nodded, he was much more social than Quaxo, and would probably enjoy meeting the cats that lived at the Palace. "Great. When do we leave?"

Quaxo nodded, "Well, he wants us there tonight. So soon."

Alonzo nodded, "I should go speak with Cassandra then, and you'll want to speak with Victoria. We can leave after that?"

"Of course."

Alonzo walked to the group of queens and pulled Cassandra off to the side, Quaxo could see them talking, and started to walk towards the rest of the group, but Plato placed a hand on his shoulder, pausing him. "So, you're leaving for a few days?"

Quaxo narrowed his eyes, he had an idea where this was going, even if Plato didn't say anything on the subject. Plato nodded, "Well, I'll watch out for Victoria for you."

It was all he could do to keep from glaring at Plato, "I'd appreciate that. Thank you. Now, I need to tell her I'm leaving."

Plato nodded, and with one last look Quaxo left him and moved towards Victoria, who was watching him with great curiosity on her face. She knew something was coming. He sighed and pulled her gently away from the group. "I have to go away for a few days. A week at most, my uncle wants me to visit."

He watched as her face fell, and it made him want to tell his uncle where he could shove it. But he owed his uncle his life, and wouldn't disobey him. "I'll be back before you know it. And Munkustrap, Tugger, Admetus, and" it pained him to say it, " Plato, will all be around to watch out for you. And you've got Jemima and Teazer to keep you company as well. You won't even know I'm gone."

Victoria looked up at him with those blue eyes, and he knew what she was thinking before she said it, "Oh, I'll definitely know you're gone."

He sighed, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. He couldn't help but smile as he felt her hug him back. "You'll be alright. I'll be back soon."

Victoria pulled away and sighed. "I'll miss you. Be safe."

Quaxo nodded, and leaned down to rub her cheek with his as he saw Alonzo coming towards him, it was time to go. "I will miss you to, my dear, and I will. We'll be back before you know it."

He forced a smile, and watched as she did the same, and then he had to go. He hadn't been more than a handful of hours without her at a time since he'd brought her here. It would be interesting to see how badly he would miss her, and how badly she would miss him in return. He had the sudden daydream of returning in a few days to her running across the clearing and throwing her arms around him. He couldn't help but smile. But then another vision came of her being entertained by Plato and forgetting about him. He narrowed his eyes. No, it would be the first. He was sure of it.

The two cats had come now to the exit of the junk yard, and he paused for a moment, looking back. Victoria was still watching him, and Cassandra stood beside her. The two tom's waved, and then the two queens waved…and then Alonzo and Quaxo disappeared through the drain pipe, and came out on all fours. They were cats again.

He wondered, as they left the junk yard behind, what would happen while they were away.

_**Victoria's POV**_

She watched as her Quaxo walked out of the junk yard and on to whatever adventures awaited him. Once he was gone she sighed and turned back to her new friends. Cassandra also sighed, but placed an arm around her. "Do not worry Victoria, those two go to visit their uncle…semi regularly. They will return."

After those short words the brown queen moved away from Victoria to stand with the other older cats, Bombalurina and Demeter. Jemima and Teazer came up to her, and Jemima hesitated before asking, "Well, do you want to practice dancing some more? It might take your mind off of it."

Victoria glanced back towards the drain pipe once more, but then gave a slow nod. Yes, it wouldn't do to sit around wallowing all the time. She had to keep herself busy. She would be fine.

And so she was, once she began dancing she did get wrapped up in it, and as her friends showed her the steps to the other dances she'd have to learn, she suddenly found that it was indeed getting later and later in the day. Soon it would be dark, and she supposed she should probably be getting back to her den. She didn't know the junk yard well enough to be comfortable traveling it at night yet. She didn't want to get lost. So she bid farewell to her friends, and moved to speak to Munkustrap.

He nodded as she approached, and gave a bow. "Good evening, Victoria, are you heading home for the night?"

She nodded, "I don't feel that I am familiar enough with the area to be comfortable going back and forth at night alone."

Admetus stepped forward, "If you do not wish to quit your friends just yet, I would be happy to escort you to your den later this evening, whenever you wish."

Victoria smiled, "It would not be an inconvenience?"

He smiled, "Of course not. It would be my pleasure. It would give us an opportunity to talk since we have rarely been able to."

Victoria nodded, "Oh, thank you! I appreciate it."

He gave a slight nod before she turned and went to join her friends, who were glad to have her for a while longer. This time she decided she'd rather talk than dance, and as she had rarely been able to "gossip" before, she found she rather enjoyed it. "So, does anyone know who Quaxo and Alonzo's uncle is?"

Teazer and Jemima looked at each other and giggled. "His uncle is Bustopher Jones."

Victoria tilted her head, "Who is that?"

Etcetera piped up now, and bounded over to them, "Bustopher Jones! He's one of the wealthiest cats around, well, except for the Palace Cats of course. He's also remarkably fat."

Electra chuckled at a joke that Victoria didn't get, "He's a twenty-five pounder."

The two kittens erupted into giggles, and Victoria looked to Jemima and Rumpleteazer who were also smirking. She didn't understand it at all, but decided to press on. "So, he is Quaxo's uncle, on his mother's or father's side?"

Jemima and Rumpleteazer looked at each other again, and hesitated, but Jemima finally spoke "Well, it's kind of a long story…but on his mother's side."

"Why is it a long story?"

Teazer smirked, "Well, 'aven't ya eva 'eard of Macavity?"

Jemima shoved the other queens ribs, and Teazer scoffed, "Wha'? she's boun' ta hear it sometime!"

Jemima rolled her eyes but sighed and fell silent, Rumpleteazer moved her shoulders forward in excitement as she asked Victoria again, "Well? 'ave ya?"

Victoria giggled at Teazer's dramatic display, "Not really, the name rings a vague bell, but I'm not sure where I've heard it."

Teazer smirked, "Well, you ought ta know, Macavity is th' mos' evil cat in th' country. He's killed! Peop'l and cat's alike! He's catnapp'd Demet'r once, and no 'ne knows wha' he did ta 'er."

At that Bombalurina stepped in, making Victoria, as well as Jemima and Teazer, jump. "And if you did know you would wish you didn't."

She looked at Victoria, "What Teazer says is close enough to the truth. Macavity is not to be trifled with. He's pure evil, and wouldn't think twice about hurting any of us to get what he wants. You, in particular Victoria, should be on your guard."

This made Victoria's skin crawl, and she was confused, "Me? Why?"

Bombalurina smirked, "Well, you are of a particular interest to Quaxo, and Quaxo is of a particular interest to Macavity."

Victoria's eyes widened, she was a particular interest to Quaxo? That sounded like a good thing. "Why is Macavity interested in Quaxo?"

Bomba laughed, "Well that's easy, Quaxo is Macavity's son."

"Really?"

The red queen nodded, "Yes. You see, Quaxo's mother, Bustopher's late sister, after having Alonzo with her mate, was catnapped and held captive by Macavity, and Quaxo was the result."

Victoria gasped, and Bombalurina continued, "But one night, a few short months after Quaxo was gone, she tried to escape. She didn't want her son growing up with Macavity as his father, how would he turn out? So she tried to leave. When Macavity learned of this, he was very angry, and killed her in a blind rage. Quaxo was just able to escape, and his uncle took him in and basically raised him as his own."

Victoria stared into space as she listened to Bombalurina. What a horrible story! She didn't want to ever meet this Macavity. "So, what's his interest now in Quaxo?"

Bomba shrugged, "Well, Quaxo has inherited Macavity's abilities, and – dare I say it? – is better than Macavity himself when it comes to magic. Macavity has tried many times to get Quaxo to go with him. But Quaxo is far too good a cat and flatly refuses, as he should. So Macavity is angry with him and wants nothing more than to make him miserable. A very simple way to do that, my dear, would be to get rid of you."

Victoria gasped, and Demeter walked in at the end of the story. "Bombalurina! Don't fill the girls' heads with fear."

Bombalurina rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "I'm only warning Victoria. She has a right to know."

Demeter nodded, "Yes, she does, but it was not your story to tell! You should have left it to Quaxo to tell her in his own time."

Bomba looked almost ashamed for the first time, but it only lasted a second. "Eh, with Quaxo gone, now would be a good time for him to try something, if he were going to. It's a good bet he already knows she's here."

Demeter hissed at her sister, "Bombalurina. Stop making the girls nervous for no reason."

Bombalurina shrugged and strutted off. Victoria, however, was certainly nervous. But Demeter sighed and put an arm around her, "Do not be afraid, Victoria. Macavity would be stupid to attack us here, even with Quaxo gone. You are well protected. Quaxo would not have left you here if he didn't think so."

Victoria nodded, but still wasn't very confident in that. Had he even thought about that? She wasn't sure he would have. "I think I'm going to go to my den…it's getting late."

Demeter hesitated, and Victoria thought she was going to speak again, but instead she nodded, and removed her arm from Victoria's shoulders.

Victoria nodded farewell to her friends and, wishing she had just gone to bed when she'd originally decided to, headed back to Admetus. "Admetus, is your offer to escort me to my den still available?"

The brown cat looked down from his conversation with Munkustrap and smiled. "Of course, are you ready now?"

Victoria nodded, "If it wouldn't be a trouble. I do not wish to interrupt your conversation."

Munkustrap smiled, "The conversation can wait."

Admetus smiled and climbed down from the tire, and offered her his arm. "Let us be off."

Once they were out of the Great Clearing, Admetus spoke, "I expected you to take longer with your friends, you still left quite early."

Victoria nodded, "Yes, I had planned to take more time, but they started talking about Macavity and it made me nervous to get home."

"Ah. I see. Well rest assured you are quite safe here. There is always someone roaming the junk yard at night, keeping watch for him. Tonight, I believe it is Plato. I take over tomorrow night."

Victoria smiled as they reached her pile of tires. It really wasn't that far from the clearing at all. "Thank you for escorting me Admetus. I appreciate it."

He nodded, "Anytime, sister. I'm happy to do it. If you like, I'll come meet you in the morning."

Victoria nodded, "I would like that, thank you."

With that she entered through the small gap in the tires, and listened as Admetus walked off.

Then she was alone. She sat on her bed, staring around at the walls. It was so quiet. It was spookily quiet. She didn't like it. She longed for Quaxo to be around, so she could go talk to him, but somehow knowing that her usual escape from the silence wasn't available, made her all that much more uncomfortable.

Eventually she lay down and tried to sleep. She didn't know how long she lay there, but after a while she grew so bored she couldn't take it anymore. "If I just go for a walk, yes, that will calm me. Then I'll be able to sleep."

She hesitated at the exit of her tires. The story she'd been told about Macavity once more entered her mind, and she thought for a moment that perhaps she shouldn't risk it. The night would not last forever, and then she could be with the others again. She nodded and turned back to her bed. But the sight of it made her sick, so she turned back. Just to the clearing and back. That couldn't hurt anyone. Plato was out watching for Macavity, surely it was safe enough. So she stepped out.

Everything was different in the darkness. This, of course, was not the first time she had ventured out. But those times she had always been going to visit Quaxo. She knew the way there like the back of her hand. And although she had meant to go to the Great Clearing, she found herself standing outside of Quaxo's drain pipe. How would he feel about her going in there when he wasn't home? Would he mind? Or would he be glad that even in his absence it gave her comfort? She shrugged. She didn't care. She missed him, and this was the only way she knew how not to. So she cautiously entered through the drain pipe.

As it always did, the den lit up as she entered. She assumed it was some magical spell he had put on the place, and she smiled as she walked over to his bed. She lay down on it, and smiled as she nuzzled her cheek against the pillow. It smelled like him, and she was comforted. She felt safe, and in no time at all, she had fallen asleep.

She woke just before daybreak, and stretched. Then she realized she needed to get back to her own den. Admetus would be coming to get her before too long, and it wouldn't do for her not to be there. So she stood and made her way out of Quaxo's den.

She was maybe half way home, when a new voice that she hadn't heard before spoke. It was icy, and cold, and made her skin crawl. "Well, hello there. Who are you?"

The voice came from behind her, and she turned slowly. She didn't recognize the cat, but she could tell from his looks that he wasn't one to socialize with. He was a ginger cat, but he was an ugly one. He was huge, and his hair was wild. She took a few steps away, and he smirked, "I'll only ask you once more little girl, who are you?"

She gulped, "Victoria."

The smirk that appeared on his face put even George to shame. "Magnificent. Just the cat I've been looking for. Perhaps you have heard of me? I am Macavity."

Victoria gasped and tried to back away, but suddenly there was another cat behind her. She didn't get a good look at this one, but the voice was vaguely familiar when he spoke, "Shhh," he hissed at her. "Don't fight it. I don't want to hurt you."

Uh huh, sure you don't, Victoria thought as she tried to struggle, but it was no use. There was now a cat on either side of her, and there was no way she could see to escape. She had almost lost all hope when she remembered that Plato was supposedly out somewhere, watching for danger. She glanced at Macavity, who was still several feet away, and decided it was worth the risk. If they were going to hurt her, they would do it regardless of how well she complied. So she screamed. She screamed at the top of her lungs, and continued to do so until Macavity closed the gap and hit her hard on the head. She slumped against the two cats holding her, and fell into darkness.

* * *

**Chapter Ten Preview:**

"There!" Munkustrap couldn't help but smile as he saw a busted out window near the ground. It probably went down into the basement. Sure enough, a tough looking Siamese came crawling out of it and moved towards the street. They had found the main entrance. "That's how they get in and out."

Admetus nodded beside him. "Yes, but that's not how we should get in."

Munkustrap looked at him and lifted an eyebrow. Admetus pointed up to the second story of the library. "There is a small window that is open up there. That tree leads right up to it. They are probably keeping a good eye on the main entrance, I doubt they are terribly worried about the second floor."

Munkustrap nodded. "Ah, yes, you are probably right. Sneak attack from the inside, it might just work."

He gave Admetus a pat on the back. "Good job. Let's get back to the junk yard so we can gather a group and make a plan. Maybe Coricopat and Tantomile will have an idea of when Quaxo will return."

It didn't take them too long to get back, and when they did they were greeted by the twins, who looked relatively upset. "We have talked with Quaxo again. There is a bus headed here, but it doesn't leave until later this afternoon. We highly doubt he'll be able to get here before early morning."

Munkustrap sighed. "Well, we can't wait for him. There is no telling what Macavity is doing to the poor girl, and I'm quite sure Quaxo would rather we get her out if we can."

Admetus nodded beside him, "I'll go get the guys, and we can start planning."


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note:**Sorry it took me so long to get this up! I've just been really busy and haven't had time to breathe. But here's Chapter Ten! Be warned...this chapter and the next...there's plenty of violence, especially for poor Victoria (I love being mean to my favorites...) but nothing really in detail. The next chapter especially hints at some stuff, but again I don't go into detail at all really. So...let me know what you guys think.

**Chapter Ten**

_**Munkustrap's POV**_

He had not been up long when he heard it. In fact, he was only just now replacing Plato as sentinel and Plato had hardly made it out of the clearing yet. But they both heard it, it was a scream. Plato turned to Munkustrap, and together they went off in search of the cause. It had come in the direction of Victoria's den, and Munkustrap grew more nervous with every step. There was no sign of trouble outside, but still something didn't feel right. As the two toms reached Victoria's pile of tires, Munkustrap sighed, they wouldn't be able to fit through the small opening. They would have to call to her. "Victoria? Victoria, are you in there?"

There was no reply. Munkustrap turned to Plato, who tried again, "Victoria? Come on out! We need to talk to you."

Still there was no reply. Munkustrap sighed, "Let's check Quaxo's den. It is possible she may have gone there."

Plato nodded, and they headed towards the drain pipe. It didn't take them long of course, and then they were crawling through, Munkustrap leading the way, "Victoria?"

But Quaxo's den was empty. Munkustrap sighed and turned to Plato. "We'll need to talk to Coricopat and Tantomile. Maybe they can find her."

Plato nodded and stifled a yawn. Munkustrap put a hand on his shoulder as they came out of the drain pipe. "Why don't you go get some sleep? You've been up all night. She may just be wandering around, and if I learn anything different I'll let you know."

Plato hesitated, obviously wanting to help more, but Munkustrap knew Plato would be no good to anyone if he was falling asleep all the time. "Go on, I promise I'll let you know what we learn."

After another moment, he nodded and walked away, headed towards his small den. Munkustrap sighed and went to find the psychic twins. They were often already up at this hour, as daybreak was their favorite time of day. Sure enough, he found them lying on the Great Tire, doing…well, whatever it was that they did. "Coricopat, Tantomile. I need your help."

The twins nodded in unison. "We know, and we know what you will ask of us."

Munkustrap sighed, of course they did. "Well, will you help me?"

The twins looked at each other, then back to him. "Of course."

The three of them head towards Victoria's den, but didn't make it all the way, they stopped at a point that was about half way between her pile of tires and Quaxo's drain pipe. "This," Coricopat said, "is the last place she was conscious."

Tantomile nodded, "Indeed, Brother. She was taken."

Munkustrap felt his heart constrict. "By who?"

The twins looked at each other once more, and then back to Munkustrap, "You do not need to ask, for you already know."

Tantomile continued, "It is as you have feared this past week – "

"Macavity has taken her," finished Coricopat.

Munkustrap sighed, "I expected as much. Can you contact Quaxo? He needs to know."

The twins looked at each other for a full moment. "We do not think it wise to inform him just yet. He is on the other side of town, and until we have a plan, it will just worry him."

Munkustrap rolled his eyes, "I know it will worry him. But we may need his help."

The twins nodded, "Very well, one moment."

They looked up at the sky, and Munkustrap watched impatiently as their eyes went out of focus as they looked at something that wasn't there. Finally, after what seemed like forever, they looked down before looking at him again. "He is asleep and could not be reached. We will continue trying."

Munkustrap gave an exasperated sigh, and nodded. "Yes, do that."

He turned and ran back to the clearing. He racked his brain, who was available? He needed people to discuss this with. He found Rum Tum Tugger and Admetus just walking into the clearing, and he walked to them quickly. "Brothers, we have a problem."

The two toms looked at each other and then back to him, Admetus was the first to speak, "What is it? What's happened?"

Tugger smirked, "Surely it's nothing we can't figure out. What's up, Munk?"

Munkustrap sighed, "Macavity has taken Victoria."

Both of his brothers looked equally floored. Tugger was the first to speak, "What? We have to go get her! Sound the alarm! Call Scotland Yard!"

Munkustrap shot him a glare. "This is serious Tugger."

Admetus hadn't said anything yet, but now he spoke with a serious tone. He may be the youngest of the three, but he was easily the most serious. "Where has he taken her?"

Munkustrap ran a hand across his ears. "We do not know where his hide out is anymore, he moved last month. Until we find it again, she could be anywhere."

He nodded, "I'll go wake Mongojerrie and Rumpleteazer. Maybe they know something we don't."

He didn't wait for agreement, and Munkustrap watched as his youngest brother bolted off. He looked at Tugger, "Can you go wake Demeter? I need to speak with her."

Tugger bit his lip, "Uhm, you sure that's a good idea Bro?"

Munkustrap sighed, "No. It's not, and I don't want to do it, but she may be able to help us think of something. She's been taken by him before as well."

Rum Tum Tugger nodded. "Very well, I'll go get her."

**_Victoria's POV_**

Victoria slowly regained consciousness, and wasted no time regretting it. What had they done to her while she was out? Her whole body ached, especially her head. That part she understood, as Macavity had hit her pretty hard to knock her out. But she couldn't account for the rest of the pain, she felt like she'd been hit by a car. Maybe they had thrown her into a car.

How long had she been out? She slowly opened her eyes and glanced around for any sign of time, but there was none. There were no windows, no clocks, nothing to mark the time. She could have been out for minutes, hours, or days. She had no way to know. There was one thing she did know, was that she was still in Jellicle form. But they couldn't be in the junk yard right? They couldn't possibly be so close…

She wondered if the Junk Yard cats knew she was missing yet. If they did, would they come get her? Did they even know where she was? She wondered if Quaxo knew about this yet. She didn't imagine that he would take the news well. He had a way of blaming himself when things went wrong and she had no doubt he would do that for this as well.

"So, you decided to wake up did you?" The voice came from the far corner of the room, and she looked over. The cat stood in the shadows, and it was difficult to make him out. She narrowed her eyes at him but didn't say anything. "It's so kind of you to join us, Vicky."

Victoria's eyes widened as she immediately recognized the voice. No, no it couldn't be. "George? George, how did you get here? What do you want?"

The orange tom laughed and moved towards her, she finally stood up and backed into the wall. "What do I want? I want what I've always wanted. I just want you, and Macavity promises that he will let me keep you. Once he's done with you of course. I'm patient, I can wait."

Victoria glared at him. "What does he want me for?"

The orange tom smirked. "Well, he wants to use you to get to Mistoffelees of course."

Victoria had to concentrate to remember who Mistoffelees was, but after only a few seconds she remembered that Mistoffelees was kind of like Quaxo's other half. They were the same person, but they were different. "Quaxo."

The cat nodded. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I don't care what you call him."

Victoria smirked, glad that Quaxo had at least managed to piss George off, "He really got to you didn't he? That lightning bolt must have messed you up."

George snarled, "It doesn't matter. He'll be dead before long."

Victoria didn't respond to that. She figured it best to change the subject, so she went with the next question she had for him, "How did you get into this?"

He smiled, obviously happy to be recounting the tale. "I was in this group before I ever came to live with you. So when our humans left, the person they paid to come feed us and such was a dimwit, and it was all too easy to slip out the door. I imagine Jacob and Sarah will be wanting a refund."

Victoria rolled her eyes, and he continued, "So I sought out Macavity once more, and I told him about my encounter with dear old Mistoffelees. He was, of course, very fascinated, and asked me to tell him everything I knew about you. Then between the two of us we came up with the plan to take you, in order to lure Mistoffelees, so that Macavity could deal with him."

Victoria almost smirked. This guy didn't know when to shut up. "What does he plan to do?"

George smirked, "I don't care about the details with Mistoffelees. I only care that I get my end of the deal, which is you."

Suddenly Macavity showed up behind George, and Victoria tried to shrink into the wall, but of course it didn't work. Macavity laughed. "And you shall have it George, just as soon as my son makes his appearance."

Victoria narrowed her eyes at the ginger cat. "What if he doesn't come?"

Macavity laughed, "Oh, you had better hope he does, because if he doesn't, then you die."

George snarled, "That wasn't part of the deal! You said – "

Macavity glared at him, "I said that you could have Victoria when Mistoffelees came! If he doesn't, the deal is off, and she is mine. Just like all the others."

He looked her over in a way that made her skin crawl, and she looked away from him. This did not please him, and he stormed over and jerked her chin, forcing her to look at him. "You know, maybe I won't wait to see if he comes."

He turned to George. "Leave us."

George glared at him, "But she's – "

Macavity threw Victoria down in a rush to push George away, "I said, leave us!"

So George did. And Macavity and Victoria were alone.

**_Quaxo's POV_**

Quaxo looked around as the truck they had hitched a ride on drove towards London. They were only a few minutes out now, and once they reached there they would jump off and make their way to the palace. That, of course, meant they were quite far away from the Junk Yard.

"What a beautiful day!" His uncle, Bustopher Jones, declared after the truck came to a stop at a red light and the three toms had jumped off, Bustopher perhaps not as gracefully as Alonzo and Quaxo.

Quaxo nodded as a response. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, and the three of them were almost to the palace now. If he were honest with himself, he was excited to be going. Sure, he didn't particularly care to meet the royal cats, but he was interested in seeing the grounds. He had heard that they were really nice. He wished he could have brought Victoria. He expected that she would have enjoyed it. He smiled as he thought of her, and wondered what she was doing right now.

"_Quaxo._"

The voice had been in his head, which only meant one thing. He stopped walking, causing Alonzo to nearly run into him. "Hey, Quax, you ok – "

Quaxo hushed him. "_Coricopat?"_

"_Thank the Everlasting Cat. We have been trying to reach you."_

Quaxo sighed, his gut twisting. Something was wrong. "_What happened? Is Victoria alright?"_

There was silence for a few seconds. Quaxo felt his heart drop. Finally Coricopat responded, "_She was taken by Macavity early this morning."_

Quaxo didn't even wait for him to finish. He turned and started running. He had to find a car headed back, if he couldn't it would an extremely long walk back. But he'd do it if he had to.

"Quaxo!" Alonzo was coming after him, "Quaxo, what's happened?"

Quaxo didn't miss a step as he replied, "Macavity took Victoria."

Alonzo stopped dead in his tracks, frozen in shock, but recovered quickly and caught up. "Then let's go get her back."

**_Munkustrap's POV_**

"Quaxo has been notified. He is on his way back, but it will take him quite a while to get here. They were already in London." Coricopat said and Munkustrap sighed and nodded.

"Thank you Coricopat."

"Oy! Munkustrap!"

"Finally!" Munkustrap turned to see Mongojerrie and Rumpleteazer coming towards him. Mongojerrie smiled, "Wha' ya know? We found 'is 'ideout! They're in the ol' libra'y 'cross from the park!"

Rumpleteazer nodded, "Yeah! We think they're in the basement!"

Munkustrap nodded. "Thank you, both of you. That's very helpful. That's not far from here. Have you any idea how many cats he's got with him?"

The two looked at each other, but shook their head and Jerry spoke up. "Nah. We couldn' ge' a good look a' 'em."

Munkustrap sighed, "Well we can't get everything. Thank you for your help."

The two nodded and then left to join the rest of the group down below. He looked down at Demeter, who sat quietly on top of the TSE 1. She looked deep in thought, and he knew why. He had had no choice but to ask her about her experience so long ago. She had never told him, and he had never asked, until now. And in some ways he wished he hadn't. She had suffered a great deal, and he hated Macavity for that. But he needed to know what they were walking into. As that thought crossed his mind, he turned to his youngest brother.

"Admetus?" The brown tom looked up at his brother's voice, and came over.

Munkustrap put a hand on his shoulder. "We believe we may know where Macavity is at the moment. Would you come with me to investigate?"

Admetus nodded, "Like you could stop me. When do we go?"

Munkustrap glanced around, "Now, if you can."

A few minutes later the two cats were leaving the junk yard and headed towards the park.

"Munkustrap, what exactly are we looking for?" Admetus asked as they reached the park.

The older brother shrugged as they walked, "I do not know just yet. Hopefully some sign that they actually are there, and how many there are, or a way to get in unnoticed. Anything helpful really, we need more information. We need to make a plan."

Admetus sighed as they sat behind a bench that pointed towards the Library. A new one had been built across town, and this one was still vacant. "So we think Victoria is in there somewhere?"

Munkustrap nodded, "Yes."

Admetus let out a low growl. "I wonder what he's doing to her."

Munkustrap looked at him, and thought of Demeter. "I promise you, you don't want to know."

The brown tom's shoulders went back as he lowered his head. "Why don't we just go get her now?"

Munkustrap shook his head. "Too many things can go wrong. Trust me, I don't want her going through this either, but I can't allow the others to get hurt trying to get her out. That won't accomplish anything." He paused, "We need to get her out, but we need to do it as quickly as possible with as few complications as possible."

Admetus nodded, but Munk could tell he wasn't pleased with the idea. Munkustrap sighed, as there wasn't anything else he could do about it. Munkustrap looked back at the library.

A large orange cat was walking out from the side of the library, and Munkustrap couldn't keep himself, he let out a hiss and Admetus looked at him quickly, and followed his gaze to look at the orange tom. "Munkustrap, what's wrong? Who is that?"

Munkustrap narrowed his eyes as he watched the orange cat walk down the street. "That is George. The cat we saved Victoria from last week. He must be working with Macavity. This is bad."

Admetus glared, and the two toms watched as the cat went down the street. Munkustrap noted that he looked angry about something. That didn't look like a good sign. He sighed, if George was mad about something, chances are it had had something to do with Victoria. "We need to find a way to get in."

Admetus nodded, and the two of the cats quickly crossed the road and took cover in some bushes. Together they scanned the building to see if there was anything that looked remotely like an entrance.

"There!" Munkustrap couldn't help but smile as he saw a busted out window near the ground. It probably went down into the basement. Sure enough, a tough looking Siamese came crawling out of it and moved towards the street. They had found the main entrance. "That's how they get in and out."

Admetus nodded beside him. "Yes, but that's not how we should get in."

Munkustrap looked at him and lifted an eyebrow. Admetus pointed up to the second story of the library. "There is a small window that is open up there. That tree leads right up to it. They are probably keeping a good eye on the main entrance, I doubt they are terribly worried about the second floor."

Munkustrap nodded. "Ah, yes, you are probably right. Sneak attack from the inside, it might just work."

He gave Admetus a pat on the back. "Good job. Let's get back to the junk yard so we can gather a group and make a plan. Maybe Coricopat and Tantomile will have an idea of when Quaxo will return."

It didn't take them too long to get back, and when they did they were greeted by the twins, who looked relatively upset. "We have talked with Quaxo again. There is a bus headed here, but it doesn't leave until later this afternoon. We highly doubt he'll be able to get here before early morning."

Munkustrap sighed. "Well, we can't wait for him. There is no telling what Macavity is doing to the poor girl, and I'm quite sure Quaxo would rather we get her out if we can."

Admetus nodded beside him, "I'll go get the guys, and we can start planning."


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:** This is very important - as I've mentioned previously...I enjoy torturing my favorite characters. Again, nothing is graphic, however there are PLENTY of hints at other...not so nice things. So just be aware of that. Also, my creativeness died a bit in this chapter, so their escape was super easier than I was planning...but I still think it's a decent read. Let me know what you think! Two more chapters and it's done! Whatever will you do next? You could go read my other fan fic :-)

*Disclaimer - I do not own CATS at all :-)

**Chapter Eleven**

_**Victoria's POV**_

Victoria looked up from where she lay huddled in the corner. Macavity had not been kind in the past few hours, and the pain was almost unbearable. She really just wanted to cry. He had asked her over and over what she could tell him about the junk yard. About the security, about Munkustrap's schedule, he had even asked what was taking Quaxo so long to come get her. He hadn't believed her when she said he was out of town. She would have expected him to have done his research. He had punished her most severely for the "lie", and had gone on about how she couldn't be brave forever.

She was sitting up now and leaned against the wall. Macavity had left, for now, and she was alone with her thoughts, which were not at all pleasant. She thought about all of her friends at the junk yard, and wondered how hard they were working to get her back. Surely Quaxo wouldn't be pleased if he returned from his trip to learn that she was gone. She sighed as she realized that he didn't even know any of this was happening. How could he? He was away, and wouldn't be back for several days. So she figured she had to survive at least that long. He'd come get her, even if the rest of the tribe didn't. He wouldn't leave her here. She hoped.

She could survive that long right? She had to. But then, if he continued on like he had today, she wasn't so sure. She had so many new gashes along her sides that she wondered how she had any white left on her. Not to mention the fact that she still felt like she'd been hit by a truck. But she would survive. She had to. She wouldn't let Macavity break her.

"Oh Vicky!" She groaned as George entered the room she was being held in.

"What do you want, George?" He smiled, and came towards her.

"Macavity said I could have a little fun with you. Long as I didn't kill you anyways, and I think I can handle that." He had a grin on his face that made her nervous. What did he have in mind? Her question was quickly answered when he grabbed her shoulders with his hands and turned her away from him. Her eyes widened and she tried to run away, to struggle, to scratch, bite, kick…anything. But there was no way to escape. "Yes Vicky, go ahead and fight it. It's so much more fun that way."

**_Munkustrap's POV_**

The sun had already set when the group of cats made it to the library. Almost all of the males were with them, with the exception of Rum Tum Tugger, Asparagus, and Skimbleshanks, all of whom had stayed behind to keep watch over the junk yard. The group that Munkustrap had with him now consisted of himself obviously, as well as Plato, Admetus, Pouncival and Tumblebrutus, Mongojerrie, and Coricopat. All that was missing was Alonzo and Quaxo, and Munkustrap sincerely hoped that they would get back to the junk yard before it was too late. Coricopat had told Munkustrap on the way here that Quaxo and Alonzo had snuck into the baggage compartment of a bus and were already on the trip back. With any luck, they would reach the junk yard by midnight. Hopefully, he would have Victoria back by then.

It had taken them an hour to come up with a plan and decide who was going. There had been much debate. Some wanted to take as many as possible, so that there would be an even fight, or as close as possible anyway. Others wanted to take as few as possible, so that they could more easily get around unnoticed. So in the long run, Munkustrap decided who would go and who would stay. Tugger had been very upset to be left behind, but Munkustrap had eventually convinced him that he was needed to keep the queens company and to make sure nothing happened while the rest of them were gone.

Now the group of cats stood hiding in various bushes around the library. It had been decided that three would go in first; Munkustrap, Admetus, and Plato, and if trouble arose they would signal for the rest of the group. Hopefully, it wouldn't be necessary, but Munkustrap knew the chances of that were slim.

Now the three cats headed towards the trees that lead to the open window. Admetus hadn't been joking, it was very small. The three toms could barely squeeze in, but finally, one by one, they jumped lightly to the floor of the library, and received a surprise.

Almost immediately upon entering, they turned to Jellicle form. They looked at each other and Munkustrap shrugged, "He must have a magical spell on the place. He would be strong enough."

The other two nodded, and together they began to slowly creep through the library to the stairwell. It took them ten minutes to find their way, safely, to the flight of stairs that lead down to the basement, and Munkustrap whispered to Plato, "Go get the rest of the group, and have them waiting, quietly, upstairs. That way if we need them to fight we'll have them. I doubt we'll be able to get all the way to Victoria and back without drawing some sort of attention."

Plato nodded, and disappeared back up the stairs. Munkustrap turned to Admetus. "It's just you and I now. Are you ready?"

The brown cat nodded, "Let's go get our sister back."

They each took a deep breath before slowly descending the last few stairs. They slowly stuck there head out, peering up and down the hall. No one was coming; no one seemed to be around at all. Suddenly a door at the end of the hall flew open, and George came swaggering out, and looking mighty pleased with himself as well. Munkustrap and Admetus retreated under the stairs, and waited till they heard him exit the stairwell before emerging once more into the hallway. They decided to check the door he'd come out of first, and slowly and silently moved down the hall.

He opened the door slowly, and peered into the room. At first he thought the room was empty, and was about to leave when he saw her. He was curled into the fetal position, in the far corner. She was bloody and bruised, and was shaking. He assumed that there were silent tears streaming down her face, but he couldn't see as she wasn't facing this direction. His heart broke as he entered with Admetus right behind him. He motioned to Admetus to stay by the door. The brown cat nodded, and then Munkustrap's attention was back on Victoria.

He didn't know how to approach her. She hadn't noticed their entrance, and if he touched her, he had no doubt she would scream, however, he wasn't completely sure her reaction would be any different if he spoke. So he moved closer, until he was just five feet away, and sank down to his knees, he would appear less threatening that way, and he was sure she wouldn't recognize him immediately. She had been through too much and she simply wouldn't see him. He leaned towards her, and when he spoke it was in a very low and soft tone, almost a whisper. "Victoria?"

He saw her tense. She wasn't facing him, but he could feel the fear radiating off of her. What had Macavity, or George, done to her? "Victoria, it's ok now."

He saw her hesitate, as if she was afraid to turn around, afraid to look to see who had spoken. He gave a small sigh, "It's me, Victoria. It's Munkustrap."

"Munkustrap?" His heart broke again at the sound of her voice. She sounded broken and scared, and very small. But he detected the tiniest amount of hope. "Yes, Victoria. It's me. We came to bring you home."

He watched as she slowly, and painfully by the looks of it, turned her head to look at him.

"M-Munkustrap?" Her voice cracked with relief, and he nodded as he moved closer so she could see him. She would not be afraid of him now. She knew it was him.

"I'm here Victoria." He wrapped his arms around her, and gently pulled her into a hug. With a heavy sigh she all but sank into him. He pulled away enough to look at her. "Let's get you out of here. Can you stand?"

She gave a tentative nod. "I….I think so."

He helped her to her feet and put an arm around her to steady her.

"Munkustrap." Admetus called to him from the door. "We've got trouble."

"Who is it?"

"I'm not sure." He ducked behind the door as the cat walked by, but whoever it was must not have been terribly interested in Victoria, as he didn't even look in the door. Munkustrap sighed, "Well that was some luck. Admetus, you take point. See if anyone is coming."

With a quick nod Admetus looked out once more before stepping into the hall. Again, it appeared to be vacant, and he motioned for Munkustrap to come. They made it out into the hall, and almost all the way up the stairs, before they reached any opposition at all. One cat entered the stairwell just as Admetus, Munkustrap, and Victoria reached the landing.

"Hey!" The cat cried out, but Admetus pounced on him and knocked him down. "Go!" He yelled as he threw the other cat against the wall.

Munkustrap pulled Victoria after him, but she was in no condition to go running up the stairs. Munkustrap looked down at Victoria. "Victoria, I need to know. Do you trust me?"

Without hesitation Victoria nodded. He smiled, remembering how only a week ago she had said the exact opposite, also without hesitation. "That's good, because I am going to have to carry you from here."

Victoria nodded, and Munkustrap scooped her up in his arms and bounded up the steps. After a minute Admetus caught up to him, and together they reached the second level, where the rest of their group stood waiting.

At the sight of Victoria, all of them rushed forward, and Munkustrap passed her off to Plato, who he knew was the strongest and could carry her the easiest. "They will no doubt notice she's missing here very soon. Let's get a move on. Admetus first, then Plato with Victoria, I'll bring up the rear."

One by one the cats climbed out the window and descended the tree. Munkustrap watched from the closest window as Plato slowly climbed down the tree. Once they were out of the library, they were general cats again, and it was more difficult to carry someone when you didn't have proper arms. But between Plato and Admetus they managed to get her down, and slowly the rest of the cats joined them. He was the last one to climb out the window, and as he reached it, Macavity ascended the stairs. "Munkustrap!"

Munkustrap simply waved as he jumped out and descended the tree as quickly as possible. "Admetus, Plato, get her home, the rest of you? We are about to have a fight on our hands."

**_Victoria's POV_**

Victoria watched as the other cats came down the tree. She couldn't believe they had all come to get her. Munkustrap was the last to come down the tree, and at his words she backed away furiously, nearly knocking Admetus over. "Oh, sorry!"

He nodded, "No need to apologize. I understand."

Munkustrap's voice spoke again, "Did you guys not hear me? Go! Now!"

Admetus nodded and gently pulled Victoria towards him, "We need to go now."

Victoria nodded, and followed as fast as her aching body would allow, Plato was right behind her, bringing up the rear. They were just reaching the other side of the street as the sounds of a fight broke out behind them. Victoria stopped to look back, but Plato pushed her forward, "Sorry, Vic, we've got to get you home. They'll be fine."

She glanced at him, and nodded, and started moving again. But it was painful. Each step was agony, and she was exhausted. She didn't know how long they had been going, or how far they had gone. She had lost track of everything in her concentration just to keep moving.

Finally, Admetus spoke up from just in front of her. "It's alright Victoria, we made it. We're home. There's the drain pipe."

She looked up, and with a sigh of relief saw the drain pipe that marked the entrance to the junk yard. They had made it, she was safe. She almost collapsed with relief but Admetus rushed forward to catch her. "It's ok Victoria, we can take it from here."

The two tom's each grabbed her by the neck, and gently pulled her towards the pipe. She tried to help, tried to push herself forward, but she was exhausted. She didn't have any fight left in her. She knew they had reached the junk yard when she felt hands, instead of paws, lift her up. She vaguely heard Admetus saying something about Jennyanydots and Skimbleshanks before she succumbed to the darkness.

**_Admetus' POV_**

No sooner had he pulled Victoria up into his arms than he felt her go limp. She had passed out. Whether from pain, or exhaustion he didn't know. Personally, he severely hoped it was the latter, but honestly he suspected it was a bit of both. He sighed, and pulled her more tightly to him, as he made his way through the junk yard.

He wasted no time in taking her to Jennyanydots, where they got Victoria set up on a small table so that she could work on cleaning her wounds. Once everything was set up, Jenny basically pushed him out of the room so she could work in peace. He sighed as he left her den, and made his way to the great clearing where everyone was waiting anxiously for news. Munkustrap and the others hadn't arrived back yet, and he considered going to see if they needed help, but first he had to give the queens the news. "Macavity really did a number on her. I don't know exactly how bad it is, but she was able to walk almost all the way here, although it pained her. I'm sure she'll make a full recovery before too long. She's strong."

Many of the group nodded, and he walked over to Tantomile, "Can you see what's going on with Coricopat?"

She nodded once before gazing off into the far unknown, and after a few seconds she looked at him once more. "They are returning now, nearly to the drain pipe. Macavity only had a few helping him, so the fight didn't last too long."

Admetus nodded, and turned to go and greet them. He had only just reached the drain pipe when Munkustrap crawled through. "Victoria?"

"I took her straight to Jenny. She passed out when we got here. She had a hard time with the trip here."

His older brother nodded, "I expected she would. Has Jenny said anything yet?"

Admetus gave a scoff. "Only to get out of the way and leave her alone so she could work."

Munkustrap nodded again. "She'll let us know when she's done."

"Munkustrap!" Coricopat had spoken from behind them. "Quaxo is back in town. I told him that we had Victoria. He is on his way here."

Munkustrap gave a sigh of relief. "Good. She'll be more comfortable once he gets here. She'll be able to relax."

Admetus nodded, and the group of toms made their way back to the Great Clearing where they were greeted, although with little enthusiasm, by the queens.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note:** So this one is pretty much all between Victoria and Quaxo. Lots of fluff at the end of this one! It's so sweet I think. Again, I'm really sorry but I love torturing my favorite characters. Nothing is graphic, but certainly things are hinted at, and briefly explained. PLEASE review if you don't mind. It really helps me when I get review because I know if people are liking it or not, and if I should change anything going forward. The final chapter will be up probably by the end of the week as I'm going out of town and don't want to forget about it. Here's Chapter Twelve, hope you enjoy! Please please please review! :-D Thanks!

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

**_Quaxo's POV_**

He had spent the entire trip back worrying. Alonzo had tried to comfort him, telling him the tribe would get her back, but it had been little help. HE should have been there. HE should be the one getting her back. He had been fretting the whole time what Macavity had done to her, was doing to her. Coricopat had contacted him only moments ago, as they were getting off the bus, to tell him that they had her back. That she was already at the junk yard. That she was alive. The relief Quaxo had felt at those statements cannot be put into words.

He was angry though. He was angry at Macavity for taking her. He was angry at himself for leaving her, and also for not being able to go get her back himself. He hoped she was alright. Coricopat had not been specific as to her well being, only that she was back at the junk yard. How much could they possibly have done to her in less than twenty-four hours? He grimaced as the thought occurred to him that he probably didn't want to know.

But he had to know. It was the thought that propelled him forward as fast as he could go, all the way back to the junk yard. It was nearly an hour after getting off the bus stop when he finally came through the drain pipe and emerged on two legs. He immediately went in search of her, but met Munkustrap first. Munkustrap sighed in relief, "Oh thank the Everlasting Cat, you're back."

Quaxo nodded, "Where is she? How is she?"

Munkustrap glanced towards Jenny's den, then back to Quaxo, "Jenny is working on her."

Quaxo's face paled, if that is even possible. Munkustrap placed his hands on Quaxo's shoulder, "Quaxo, she isn't in good shape. She could barely make the trip back. I don't know exactly how bad it is, but we'll know more when Jenny is finished with her."

Quaxo ran a hand over his ears and shook his head. He couldn't believe this was happening.

Munkustrap sighed, "Quaxo, she's alive. That's the most important thing. And we got her back, without too much difficulty, actually."

Quaxo nodded, but didn't say anything. In fact, it was almost a minute before he said anything, "Do you think I can go see her?"

Munkustrap shook his head, "I doubt it. I tried to go in when I got back, but Jenny shoved me out again, going on about how she needed space and quiet."

That didn't sound good at all, and it was Quaxo's turn to sigh. He was about to ask how they had gotten her out when he saw Jenny walking towards them, and he and Munkustrap both rushed to meet her, both of them asking questions at once. Jenny lifted her hands to silence them.

"Poor dear's been through a lot. It took an hour to clean all the cuts and gashes she got, and she must have been thrown around a lot because she has several badly bruised ribs, one or two may be broken. But they should heal up after a while if she's gentle with them…"

She had trailed off, but it still looked like she had more to say. Quaxo couldn't bare this. With every word his heart had broken, could there really still be more? "Jenny…"

She was hesitating. It was bad, he knew it was bad. Why would she hesitate this much if it wasn't bad? It had to be bad. He groaned and Munkustrap put a hand on his shoulder, "Go on Jenny, what is it?"

She grasped her hands together, and was fidgeting. Whatever it was, she really didn't want to say it, and that terrified Quaxo more than anything else. Finally, she spoke, "I…I believe that he…well…I think he might have…."

She didn't need to say it. Quaxo understood. And he was angry. With a yell he turned away from them and a burst of lightning flew towards a pile of junk, causing a moderately sized explosion, and debris flew everywhere. He heard Munkustrap growl behind him. Quaxo knew he needed to reply. He knew he needed to go see her, but he was so angry. He felt like the magic was going to explode within him.

"Quaxo." He felt a hand on his shoulder, Munkustrap. He took a deep breath, and turned back to face the two cats who were watching him with concern.

He sighed, "Sorry about that…I'm just…"

Jenny nodded, and gave a sad smile, "I understand, Dear."

Quaxo gave a slow nod. "Is she awake?"

Jenny shook her head, "No, she hasn't regained consciousness since Admetus brought her back. But you can go and sit with her until she wakes if you want. But there's no way to know when she'll wake up. She could wake up within the next few minutes, or she might sleep through the night, maybe through tomorrow."

Quaxo thought for a moment, "Would I be able to take her to my den? She'd be more comfortable there, I think."

Jennyanydots considered this for a moment, before finally nodding. "As long as you do it gently, I don't see why not."

Quaxo gave a small smile, and a quick nod to Munkustrap and then turned to gather Victoria.

"Quaxo," Munkustrap's voice gave him pause, and he turned to look at the grey and black tom. Munkustrap sighed, "I don't think it's as bad as it looks, if what Jenny says is true. I was afraid she was dead when I saw her the first time."

Quaxo growled, "Why are you telling me this?"

Munkustrap rested a hand on his shoulder. "I just want you to be prepared."

Quaxo thought on this for a moment, before walking away. He had to get to her. He had to see her. He had to touch her, to know she was alive. He could deal with the rest of it. Still, he couldn't help but hesitate before entering Jenny's den. He was afraid of what he would find.

He walked in and found her asleep on the table. He couldn't help but growl as he took in her condition. There were fresh scratches and gashes all along her body, and plenty of bruises as well, it looked like she'd been through hell. He would get Macavity back.

He knelt down and gently lifted the sleeping queen into his arms. She groaned slightly, but otherwise made no motion, and Quaxo slowly and carefully carried her to her den. Along the way he passed various cats, all of whom would glance and nod before stepping out of his way. Rum Tum Tugger stood atop the tire with Munkustrap and Admetus, and all three of them simply watched with a sad expression as he walked passed. They were her brothers, but they all knew no one would take as good as care of her as he would, not even Jenny.

Once he had reached his den, he placed her gently down on the bed, then sat on a small box. He didn't know what to do now. Jenny had already cleaned her wounds, and there weren't really any broken bones to be mended, with the exception of a few ribs that Jenny had mentioned, but those would heal on their own soon enough.

He watched her now as she slept. Her face was twisted into a frown, and he expected she was probably having a bad dream. He reached forward and stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers. Her expression softened, if only a little, and Quaxo smiled, and hoped that she had moved on to more pleasant dreams. He leaned forward and rested his head on the bed, only a few inches away from her. She would eventually wake up, and when she did he would be here.

**_Victoria's POV_**

She woke slowly, and tried to remain as motionless as possible. She wasn't sure who all was in the room with her, or even if anyone was, but she was going to figure that out before she so much as breathed. So she started paying attention.

The first thing she noticed was that she was on something soft; it felt like a pile of blankets. That couldn't be right; the last thing she remembered was being thrown down onto the hard floor. She took a chance and took the faintest of sniffs. Quaxo, these blankets smelled like Quaxo. How could that be?

All at once the memories came flooding back. Munkustrap! He had saved her. Admetus had been there too. Yes, she remembered now. They had brought her back home. If the blankets smelled like Quaxo, then she could bet that she was in his den, which could only mean…

Her eyes snapped open, and she glanced down to where the tuxedo tom had fallen asleep. He was sitting on a box, with his head resting on his folded arms. She smiled, so glad to see him again that she didn't even care if he was sleeping. She gave a happy sigh, and slowly reached over and touched his hand with hers.

His brown eyes slowly fluttered open, and looked up at her. She waited breathlessly for him to say something, and he simply stared at her for several seconds before he lifted his head up. They continued to sit there in silence for another minute or two, neither of them exactly sure how to start. There was so much that needed to be said, and some things she wished never would be. Finally she decided to start. "Did you visit with your uncle?"

Quaxo narrowed his eyes. "Everything that's happened and you're asking me if I saw my uncle."

Victoria shrugged. "It seemed like a good place to start…"

Quaxo sighed, and lowered his head again. "Victoria, I'm sorry I left. I knew I should have stayed here. If I had stayed – "

Victoria interrupted him, "If you had stayed then it just would have happened later. Macavity was pretty determined…"

She trailed off. She wondered, for a moment, if Munkustrap had told him that George was there, or if Munkustrap had even known that George had been there. "Victoria?"

She looked up at Quaxo's question, but didn't respond. Quaxo sighed, "Victoria, what is it? What are you thinking?"

Victoria looked down and shook her head. "It doesn't matter. It's over."

She felt, rather than saw, Quaxo grimace. In the blink of an eye he was beside her. He climbed into the bed and pulled her into his arms. He kept a tight hold as she crumbled into him. "I'm sorry you had to go through that…it must have been horrible."

She buried her face in his chest, and tried to keep the tears from coming. It had been horrible. Absolutely horrible. But she was here now. She was with Quaxo. She was safe. She gave a small smile as she felt him kiss the top of her head. Her Quaxo, he'd come back to her. "I missed you."

For a moment he didn't reply, and she considered looking up, but just as she was about to he spoke, "I missed you too."

The two lay in silence for a few minutes, but Victoria couldn't help but remember everything she had been through. With a shiver she tried to sink deeper into Quaxo, but of course you can only go so far. "Quaxo…I didn't think I would ever see you again."

She felt him stiffen beneath her, "Victoria, I'll never let that happen. When I heard that you had been taken, I came back as fast as I could. You can ask Alonzo. Anytime we weren't on a bus we were running. I'm so sorry it took me so long. I'll never leave you like that again, I promise."

Victoria nodded, but couldn't bring herself to say much else. She didn't trust her voice.

"Victoria," Quaxo asked, then paused. Victoria knew what was coming. It had to come sooner or later. Finally he finished his question, "Victoria, what happened in there? You were in there for almost two whole days…"

He trailed off and Victoria couldn't really blame him. She sighed, "Quaxo, don't ask questions you don't want the answer to."

She felt his chest rumble as he gave a low growl, and she looked up to see him glaring down at her. "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know, now would I?"

He was angry at her words. She supposed she couldn't blame him. She looked down in shame and tried to slide out of his arms and lay beside him again, but he held her firmly to him. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. It's just, I spent the past twenty-four hours with my imagination, worrying about what was happening to you. My imagination is pretty gruesome…I just need to know what really happened, but I understand if you don't want to talk about it."

Victoria gave a sigh, and nodded. She supposed she would have to talk about it at some point or another. "George was there."

"George? What was he doing there?"

She shrugged, and then gasped as the movement sent spasms of pain through her body. She clenched her eyes shut, trying to block out the pain and tried to bury her face into his chest even deeper. After a moment the pain subsided enough for her to continue, "Apparently" she said once she'd learned to breathe again, "he worked for Macavity before Jacob and Sarah took him in. He finally was able to get out while they were away on vacation."

Quaxo was silent for a few seconds, "Did he hurt you?"

Victoria didn't reply. She couldn't bring herself to tell Quaxo what had happened. It was too horrible, and Quaxo would surely want revenge, or something of that sort. He'd get himself killed trying to defend her honor. She didn't want him to leave her again, even for the amount of time he'd be gone, if he came back from that at all. Macavity had been waiting for him, he probably still was waiting for him. No, she wouldn't tell him the truth.

"Victoria." His tone made her look up at him. It was cold, harsh, and dangerous. She shook her head.

"Victoria, I need you to tell me." She didn't say anything and he gave a low growl. "He did. What did he do? Did he….did he…"

Victoria widened her eyes. He knew! How did he know? She had to convince him otherwise. She shook her head violently, causing stars to appear in her vision, she must have been hit in the head pretty hard. She ignored the slight pain and pleaded with him. "No! No, he didn't."

Quaxo was watching her carefully and narrowed his eyes at her now. "You're lying to me. I can tell. Why are you lying to me? Why are you protecting that…that…"

She felt rather than saw his hands beginning to spark, and she quickly reached up, ignoring the pain that seared through her arms, and touched her hands to his cheek. "Quaxo! Quaxo, please, calm down. I need you to calm down."

His brown eyes glared at something past her, and she moved into his line of sight. Suddenly his eyes focused on her, and in that moment she could see everything within them, every emotion he was having was right there for her to see. Anger, fear, sorrow, guilt…what was that last one? Love?

Yes, she could see it. It both thrilled and terrified her all at the same time, but she couldn't focus on that. His hands were still shooting sparks, and she knew if he didn't calm down he'd blow a hole in the den somewhere. "Quaxo…"

"Tell me the truth."

He spoke in the same tone he had only a few seconds ago. It dripped with anger and coldness, and she knew that if she didn't tell him the truth he would never let it go. She looked down, unable to look him in the eyes. She hadn't wanted to tell him this, or anyone else for that matter. She wanted to lock it away in the back of her mind and try not to ever think about it again.

"Victoria."

He was losing patience with her, she opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn't find the words. She looked up at him, and her eyes filled with tears. She shut her eyes, trying to keep them from falling, and gave a nod, just one, silent nod.

She waited for his reaction. She waited to feel the loose of energy that would surely blast a hole in the wall. She waited for him to push her away, to send her out. She waited.

But then his arms were around her once again. That touch, that contact, was all it took. She collapsed into him, and nothing she could do could hold back the tears. They flowed easily now, and she shook as she tried to keep her breathing regulated.

**_Quaxo's POV_**

He sat there, holding her as she cried. He felt so many emotions, and they all flew through his mind in a whirlwind. There were too many to name, among them was anger. Yes, that was a big one. That was a huge one. He had never felt so much anger in his life. But also there, and perhaps more prominent, was concern. His Victoria lay in his arms. He didn't need to be psychic to know that she was broken and shattered. More so emotionally than physically, although he knew that she was certainly in plenty of pain as well. He saw her grimace every time she moved, no matter how slowly or quickly, and he hated it. He hated that she was in his arms, sobbing. He hated that there was nothing that he could do for her.

The next emotion, and perhaps the most puzzling to him at the moment, was confusion. She had lied to him. Deliberately. Why would she do that? Surely she knew it wouldn't change how he felt for her? Had she been afraid that he would be angry with her? Surely not. It was almost as if she was trying to protect the beast. Why would she do that? These thoughts and more circled around in his head, over and over again, until she finally stopped crying and regained control of herself.

He didn't know how long they had been lying there, maybe it had been five minutes, or maybe it had been five hours. He didn't know, and right now he didn't care. "Victoria?"

She looked up at him, her eyes were red from the crying, and he gently wiped away the last of the tears that slid down her face. "Victoria, why were you trying to protect him? He doesn't deserve it."

Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. "Protect him? I wasn't protecting him. Why on earth would I protect him?"

He shrugged, "Well you tried to lie about it, I thought you were trying to protect him for some reason."

She gave a short laugh, and after all the crying, even this small laugh was music to his ears. "Quaxo, I wasn't trying to protect him. I was trying to protect you."

Quaxo was about to ask how she was protecting him, but she continued talking, "I figured that if you knew the truth you would try to go get revenge. I don't want you to. I thought that if you didn't know the truth you would just let the whole thing go."

He sighed, "Victoria…"

He didn't know what to say. She honestly wanted him to just drop it? To just act like it hadn't happened? How could she expect him to do that? She was hurt. She was broken. She expected him to ignore that? "Victoria, I can't just ignore what's happened to you. I can't. And I won't."

She looked up at him, and her blue eyes looked into his brown ones. The beauty in those eyes, they made him catch his breath. She didn't seem to have that problem, "Quaxo, I just want to forget about all of this. I want to move on. Macavity is waiting for you, he was always waiting for you, and if you go he'll try to kill you. I can't bear worrying about you, wondering if I'll ever see you again. I can't bear to go without you again. I need you…and I don't want you to leave me, even for a few hours."

Her words caused his heart to clench and she wrapped his arms around her even tighter than he had before. He nuzzled the top of her head. "Alright! Alright I'll let it go for now. If it means that much to you, I'll let it go."

And he would, for now. He would give it time, see how she was doing. If she was truly able to move on then sure, he would let it go. But if it seemed to bother her every moment of the day, there was no way he would ignore that. But he could not do something that he knew would bring stress to Victoria. His Victoria.

And she was his Victoria. She would always be his. And he was hers. He knew now, that she considered him to be hers. He could see it in her eyes. He could hear it in her voice. His heart swelled as he realized what that meant. She loved him. She had never said it, and he hadn't either, but he knew. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt. He had always known.

He looked down at his snow white queen and bent, kissing her forehead. "I'm not going anywhere, Victoria. I will never leave you again. I love you."

He felt her stiffen, and he smirked as she looked up at him, her eyes gleaming. "You do?"

He nodded, "Yes. I love you. I have always loved you, since the first moment I saw you. You have been the center of every thought I've had, every action I've made. I heard you had been taken and I nearly died inside because I thought I would never see you again. I thought I'd never get to tell you. Victoria, I was so scared, I couldn't think straight. But you're here now, and you're safe. And I am never leaving you again…because I love you."

Victoria was crying again now, and he sighed, "That wasn't supposed to make you cry."

She smirked, "Happy tears, my Mr. Black Cat, happy tears."

Mr. Black Cat, if he ever heard anyone else call him that, he would strangle them. But Victoria could call him that anytime she liked. It showed that she cared. He smirked, "YOUR Mr. Black Cat?"

The smirk was still on her face, and she simply nodded. "Mine."

He smiled, "Alright, but only if you get to be my Victoria."

Victoria gave a dramatic sigh, but was still smiling. "Ok, deal."

Quaxo couldn't keep the grin off of his face. He twisted, with her, and rolled so that he was on top of her now. He had tried to be gentle and slow so as not to hurt her, and finally he was looking down into her blue eyes. The same blue eyes that had captivated him since the moment he first saw her. "I love you."

She smiled, "I love you too."

She loved him too. He couldn't believe it. He felt like he could fly if he wanted. He noticed that her blue eyes were starting to tear up again, and he smirked, "Oh no, tears again. That just won't do."

Victoria gave a short laugh. "And what are you going to do about it?"

"What am I going to do about it? Hmm." He slowly lowered himself down, careful to avoid putting in weight on her. He paused a few inches above her, watching those blue eyes, before gently and FINALLY, pressing his lips to hers.


End file.
